Never Again

Ch. 14

The thing about adopting a kid that goes to school in Queens and refuses to switch schools is that then you have to then buy a place to live in Queens to make getting to school easier. The next problem is that there is hardly any real estate available nearby.

"You don't need to get a big fancy house," Peter muttered. I had been looking for something for two hours now and FRIDAY hadn't come up with anything more than the real estate websites I was looking at had. Peter had mentioned just moving into his old apartment building or something, but I wanted to see if there was something nicer available. I wasn't used to the common ways of living.

"Fine," I sighed, leaning back in my chair and spinning to face him. "Where should we go? You're from the area. What's a good neighborhood?"

"I'd be fine going back to my old apartment building," he told me. "I know you don't think it's a good idea, but Ned lives there and he's my best friend." I knew if we moved back into the exact apartment May and Peter had lived in, Peter was not likely to get over her death. However, I didn't want to move him far away from his best friend.

"Alright," I gave in. "I'll find a place close, but probably not in the same building. Across the street." Peter's face lit up and I was worried he'd hug me again, but he didn't.

"Thank you so much, Tony! You'll love the neighborhood," he said. He started describing it and I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it, but we would only be there during the week. Unless I had to go away. Then he would live there with Vision.

My phone alerted me to a text message, so I picked it up to glance at it. Peter continued to talk as I read the text, but when I waved my arm at him, he stopped.

"Yeah, okay Underoos," I said. I stood up from my chair and reached for my phone. "I need to go out to the compound and for lack of anything else to do, you're coming too." Peter slumped in his chair with a frown.

"But I don't wanna," he complained. I headed towards the door to my lab and FRIDAY opened it.

"Tough luck, kid," I replied. I heard him sigh and left the lab. FRIDAY alerted me that Peter was following me out of the lab, so I had her lock it down while we would be gone.

* * *

We arrived at the Avengers Compound almost an hour later. It should have taken us longer, but I broke a few speed limits in order to get to the compound as soon as possible. Peter didn't stop talking the entire way, but I wasn't really listening.

"Why's there a jet?" Peter asked, pointing up at the landing pad. I glanced around the grounds, making sure no one was around. The grounds were silent, but I still didn't answer Peter. I just put my hand on his back and pushed him into the compound.

"You'll see soon, but don't freak out," I warned. Peter nodded, looking confused but willing to do whatever I asked. I steered him through the compound down to my lab. Peter looked around in amazement. He'd never been down here before but to be fair, neither had anyone other than me up until about 2 hours ago.

"Tony? What's this?" Peter asked. The wall responded to the code I put in and a door opened to a stairwell. Peter followed me down the spiral staircase in the dark, the door shutting out the light. The emergency lights I had installed lit up the stairway enough that we could see the steps, but the stairs were so tall you couldn't see the bottom. "Where are we going? This room isn't on the blueprints. Why?"

"Ross would know about it then," I told him. Peter nodded in understanding, seeming a little less confused. "FRIDAY doesn't even know about it. Only Vision because it was on JARVIS's memory."

"What's it for?" Peter asked. We reached the bottom of the stairs and I entered the next password. The door unlocked and I pushed it open. Peter followed me into the secret room and stopped as soon as he looked around.

"You promised you wouldn't freak out," I reminded him, locking the door behind us. When I turned around, I grinned. "Welcome back, everyone." Steve grinned and Wanda looked up from where she had been speaking with Vision. Clint and Nat sat on a bed talking in Russian and sign language and Bucky was nowhere to be seen. Scott and Sam looked like they had been talking with Steve right up until we had walked in on them.

"Who's the kid?" Steve asked, pointing to Peter. I glanced at Peter who was still in shock at seeing everyone.

"This is Peter," I introduced, putting my arm over his shoulders. Peter gave a small wave and I saw Nat smirk as I said, "He's my son. And he's going to help us stop the world from ending."