One Month

Chapter Ten

Peter did not sleep that night, and he got up the next morning to a bombardment of questions that centered around his small -- he believed unnoticeable -- limp. Natasha and Peter convinced everyone that in the middle of the night, Peter had clumsily stumbled on the steps while trying to get a drink.

Tony did not talk to Peter. He seemed to make an effort to avoid him, and Peter knew that it would take him a while to get past his pride. He was Tony Stark.

Pepper Potts, however, told Peter that Natasha had informed her of where he was -- the cemetery -- and anytime he felt like he needed to go back, she could take him if nobody else. It made him feel the slightest bit better about his misbehaving.

The days continued the same. Peter would work with the team during the day although "work" really wasn't what any of them were doing, and he would meet Natasha in the studio every night and morning. He couldn't dance yet because of his ankle, but Peter was determined about his "one month."

Nothing really ever changed that week, and the next week, everything seemed to continue to remain. That is, until F.R.I.D.A.Y. began an alarm sequence early on a Wednesday. Peter, Wanda, and Vision were out of their rooms and downstairs before any of the others had woken up. Peter had grabbed his web-shooters and held them in his hoodie pocket.

Peter had his ears covered and cursed not grabbing his headphones. The alarms were much more than loud and his ears felt like they were going to explode.

"Shut it off," Wanda told Peter, her accent thick in the morning. Vision was trying to hack into the mainframe, and Peter glanced at Wanda.

"If he can't do anything, I can't do anything," he informed her in a loud voice. She huffed as she covered her ears to copy him, and Vision glanced at them both.

Pepper was the next down, and she handed the two teenagers a pair of earphones -- Peter took them eagerly and nearly sighed in bliss at how well they cancelled noise without anything going through them. He could still hear the alarms and everyone's voices, but the sounds were much better.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled after another minute and Vision shaking his head. She headed back for their bedroom, and Vision stared awkwardly at the holographic screen over the coffee table.

"Okay, okay, don't nag me," Tony yelled as he walked into the living room. Natasha was standing outside of the studio now and Peter assumed she had already been up. He pushed past Peter and Wanda and began typing in a series of codes. Peter tried to memorize them in case the alarms ever went off again. "There, see, no alarms."

Wanda pulled off her headphones easily, but Peter slipped one side off, testing the waters. His ear rang but quickly got better before he slipped his own headphones off.

The whole team had arrived by the time Tony had calmed Pepper down, assuring her that there were no threats, even those that didn't live on the compound. Peter realized then that it had been a distress signal that reached everyone, even Scott Lang, who was calling Steve Rogers over and over. Clint Barton was calling anybody he could get ahold of, which ended on Natasha.

"I have no idea what it is," Steve answered sleepily. Mostly everyone was still in their pajamas, but Steve was fully dressed.

"I guess we'll make breakfast," Wanda mumbled before she grabbed Peter's arm. "You're helping."

"Why?" Peter asked as he stumbled and followed her. She grinned at him.

"Because I'm tired and don't want to fall asleep while I'm cooking," she let go of Peter to grab the ingredients from the fridge. Peter had watched Wanda and Vision cook a handful of times now, and they had a routine. He knew that he would mess it up, but he tried to help anyway.

Everyone ate once the food was done and by then everyone was well awake. "What was that, Stark?" Bruce Banner was the one to ask, and Tony glanced at him before he grinned. He shoved his last fork full of eggs into his mouth and swallowed.

"First training day," Tony told everyone. A collective groan escaped the team, and Steve made sure that Ant-man didn't have to come in for team training. Tony ended up telling him that the felon wasn't there for the meeting for a reason, and Peter held his tongue to keep from making Tony Stark more upset.

"Are we suiting up or doing this hand-to-hand?" Natasha asked, and everyone glanced at her.

"Hand-to-hand to begin with," Tony told her, and Peter laughed which gained everyone's attention.

"Natasha is going to beat every one of us," He commented and finished off his own plate. Steve nodded in agreement and allowed his own chuckle to escape his lips.

"Outside, Parker," Tony instructed and Peter happily obliged with Wanda and Vision behind him. The whole team came outside after a couple more minutes.

"Everyone pair up," Steve took order and Peter watched as everyone decided their partners easily. Banner wasn't fighting, fearful that Hulk would make a guest appearance, and Natasha walked over to Peter.

"Oh, great," Peter mumbled, "I'm getting pummeled today." Natasha couldn't help but laugh and Peter smiled. "Glad my pain brings you joy."

"How's your ankle?" Natasha tested instead. Peter nodded his head.

"Better," he answered. She grinned.

"Then, you can dodge," she decided and Peter coughed out a chuckle.