New Beginnings

6

Not long after, Natasha took a swift turn and they had arrived at the Compound. Natasha parked the car in the garage and turned off the engine. Simultaneously, she popped the trunk open so that Peter could grab his belongings. Wanda was the first of the two kids to get out so she went to the trunk first and helped Peter with his items.

"Thanks, Wanda," Peter gave her a small smile.

"No problem," Wanda returned the smile and headed towards the door, where Natasha was waiting.

Natasha then turned and led the kids into the common room, where Tony and Steve were sitting. The rest of the Avengers had gone off to do their own thing so were either in their rooms or away from the Compound altogether.

"Tones, where are the spare bedrooms for Peter?" Natasha asked and made a small gesture to indicate who she was talking about.

"Take a left from the main bedroom hallway and there will be a few empty rooms," Tony explained as he stood up to walk nearer to the group. "Pick whichever one you want and then me and FRIDAY will buy you some decorations and whatnot later on so you can personalize it."

"Oh, okay," Peter awkwardly nodded since he was a huge fan of Tony Stark. "Um, thanks, Mr. Stark."

"Cut the formalities, call me Tony," Tony gave a soft smile.

"Got it, Mr. St-," Peter began before catching himself. "I mean Tony. Oh and hi Captain Rogers."

"Steve," Steve nodded and walked up to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," Peter returned the handshake.

"Alright, Wanda, lead him down that way," Nat said, sensing that Peter was getting overwhelmed. "And Peter, get settled and if you want, you can join us for our team dinner. But don't feel like you have to."

"Okay, thanks Natasha," Peter nodded.

Wanda led him down the hallways and Peter couldn't help but look around in awe. As they passed through the main hallways, Peter took a quick peek into the bedrooms whose doors were open. Each bedroom was uniquely decorated with one only having minimal color or decorations, one having brighter colors, and one having a good balance of the two. There were a few more bedrooms as well but the doors remained closed. He couldn't help but wonder which Avenger stayed in each room and how their personalities were reflected in each room.

"So, here we are," Wanda snapped Peter out of his thoughts. She opened the door, revealing a room that had to be almost three times bigger than his old bedroom.

"Wow," Peter muttered.

"Yeah, I said the same thing," Wanda chuckled a bit. "I didn't exactly live in a great environment as a kid, so who knew a room could even be this big. Anyway, I'll let you get settled and feel free to ask FRIDAY if you need anything or anyone."

"Thanks again, Wanda," Peter smiled.

"Anytime," Wanda replied before turning to leave.

Once she left and the door was closed, Peter sighed and laid on his back on his bed. His life had taken a full turn in such a short amount of time and this was all feeling like some sort of weird, almost sick dream. First, his aunt almost tries to hurt him. The one that always cared for him, helped him, was always kind. Sure, she wasn't fully in control of her actions, but that doesn't make it better. Second, he finds out that the Black Widow knows how he is. And then, he is living with the Avengers. The ones he's looked up to ever since they first assembled. Sighing, Peter decided to grab his phone and call Ned.

"Hey, man," Ned greeted as he answered.

"Oh my god, this is insane," Peter mumbled.

"It really is," Ned agreed. "You doing alright?"

"I think?" Peter answered. "I'm living with the freaking Avengers, dude, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel."

"What are you doing right now?" Ned asked.

"Now I'm just unpacking in my room," Peter responded.

"Oh," Ned said. "Crap. My mom is calling me, I gotta go. See you at school?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be back tomorrow," Peter assured.

"Cool. Bye!"

"Bye."

Peter then set his phone down and began to unpack. He made sure that all his clothes were neatly put away so that they wouldn't get wrinkly. He also walked into the bathroom connecting to his room and put away his toiletries. Since he didn't have a ton of belongings, he was pretty much done but decided to keep the framed picture of his family on the nightstand by his bed. After he was done unpacking, he threw his backpack on the side of his bed and sat down to begin his homework. However, he lost track of time, and the next thing he knew, hours had passed.

"Peter?" Wanda knocked on the door. "Natasha told me to bring you some food. She decided to let you have some alone time to get your homework done and everything."

"Oh okay!" Peter exclaimed. "You can come in."

Wanda then entered the room, using her powers to carry a bottle of water, salad, and half a pizza. "Steve made me give you salad. Something about 'he's a growing boy and blah blah blah.' And then Nat told me you would want half a pizza because of 'he's a growing boy.' "

"Thanks," Peter chuckled as he moved some of his work off his bed so that Wanda could sit.

"What homework are you working on?" Wanda curiously asked.

"Oh this is AP Chemistry," Peter pointed to the notes he was taking.

"Huh," Wanda noted. "I never got past elementary school, so that's literally a foreign language to me."

"I know you said you had a hard childhood," Peter took a bite of pizza. "Do you mind saying why?"

"Sure, I guess," Wanda shrugged and took a deep breath. "My parents died when one of Stark's weapons accidentally blew up our building and my twin brother Pietro and I volunteered to be experimented on by HYDRA because we thought we'd have a better life. Long story short, they were abusive to make us comply and when Ultron came around, we temporarily joined his side and later switched to the Avengers. And then Ultron killed Pietro and now I live and train with the Avengers with the occasional mission here and there."

"Damn," Peter managed to choke out. "That sounds horrible. I'm sorry you went through all that."

"Thank you," Wanda smiled. "I think it's all working out now, but I wish it could go back to how it was before. And I know you've had some bad stuff, I'm here to listen if you need."

"That's really kind," Peter said. "I've only talked about it with my best friend Ned, but maybe it would help if I talked to you too. So pretty much my parents died in a place crash when I was little so I hardly remember them. And then my Uncle Ben died not too long ago which led to Aunt May spiraling out of control and now I'm here."

"Wow, you didn't deserve any of that," Wanda sadly said.

"Yeah," Peter nodded, leading to a moment of comfortable silence. "You said that Mr. Stark's weapons killed your parents? Do you blame him for any of that?"

Wanda took a moment to think, trying to organize all of her thoughts. "I'd be lying if I said I never did. I even hated him for a long, long, time. But as time went on, after him actually apolosing, and his generosity being proved time and time again, I think it's safe to say that I don't hold it against him anymore."

"Huh, that's a really nice way of putting it," Peter thought aloud. "Do you wish you could have remnants of a normal life? Like going back to school or any of that?"

Once again, Wanda had to take a moment to answer. "Sometimes, yes I do. But with these almost unexplainable powers, I'm not sure if it's possible."

"Well, I managed," Peter joked as he shot a web.

"Got me there," Wanda laughed. "I mean, you've had similar losses, too. Do you wish it could go back to the way it was before?"

"I don't know," Peter took a bite of his salad. "I don't even remember my parents and yeah, I miss Ben, but what if there's a reason for all this? What if something good will come out of it all?"

"I think you're stronger from it," Wanda noted his maturity through it all. "Maybe someday all this will be for the better for us both."