home ; peter parker

chapter twenty

⚠️ trigger warning; panic attack

Sunday

     The next morning went as per usual. Peter strolled into the kitchen, greeted Natasha and Bucky, —Steve was always out on his morning run, Tony was usually passed out in his lab after staying up too late, and everyone else was either sleeping or busy— and was about to make himself breakfast—until he noticed the big plates of waffles on the kitchen island.
Occasionally someone else would make everyone breakfast, and it looked like today, Bucky and Natasha had tag-teamed making waffles.
As Peter sat down at the island with the former assassins, he made a mental note to ask FRIDAY for the footage of them baking; waffles were relatively simple, but it was no doubt that the footage would be filled with lots of chaos and cursing.
"Hey Peter," Natasha greeted, offering a smile. Bucky just gave him a small wave and a closed mouth smile because he was in the middle of chewing some waffle.
"Hey guys," Peter grinned, shoveling waffles into his mouth and shooting them a surprised, but approving, look. He swallowed and looked at the two curiously. "Wow, you guys really outdid yourselves this time..." Peter commented, beginning to narrow his eyes skeptically.
     Bucky grinned and Natasha just rolled her eyes at his response.
"I made a bet with Barnes that he couldn't make waffles without burning them, let alone making them taste good."
"Oh..." Peter nodded in understanding. "Mr Barnes, I didn't know you could bake!"
"It's not that hard. They're just waffles, you only need to follow the recipe," Bucky shrugged, giving a triumphant look as Natasha slapped a wad of cash in his hand.
"Well, the waffles taste really good!" Peter gave a thumbs up and resumed eating.

Peter peeked into Tony's lab, expecting to see him passed out and slumped over a table. To his surprise, the man was awake.
     Well, not entirely.
"Hey kid." Tony greeted groggily after noticing the boy out of the corner of his eye.
"Hi Mr Stark!" Peter replied cheerfully, remaining where he was. He figured Tony would come out to get breakfast. Tony grunted as he stood, combing his fingers through his hair. The man rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at Peter.
"Tony." He corrected, yawning. "Imma go get some coffee." He mumbled before proceeding to walk past him and out of the lab.
"Mr Stark, how much sleep did you get last night?" Peter asked worridely, scrambling after him.
"Oh, I don't know." They reached the kitchen. "Five hours, maybe?"
"Two and a half hours, sir." FRIDAY corrected.
"Right, thanks FRI." Tony replied sarcastically, pouring himself some coffee. "Have you already eaten, kid?"
"Yeah, but I'll sit with you!" Peter offered, nodding to himself.
"That's okay," He patted Peter's shoulder. "I'll eat later. Wanna go work?"
"Okay!"
They set off for the lab—again.

It had been previously decided that Peter would return to school the following Monday, which he was extremely excited for. He couldn't wait to see his friends again and catch up with them.
     Thankfully, Peter was offered the option of staying at the Compound and being driven to school, or go back to May's place and return to his old routine.
     He chose to stay at the Compound, obviously.  
     His choice wasn't nearly as suspicious as it would seem, because either way, he was now required to have a bodyguard with him. Staying at the Compound made the commute easier for the bodyguard and this way the bodyguard would be with him at all times, including on the way to school.

May still hadn't known the details of what had really happened, and the public was given the same basic information. The government was secretly investigating the situation, but it was clear that the job would be left the Avengers.
They had officially informed both Peter's school and his aunt that he had been kidnapped —true— and questioned about Tony Stark because Peter was his 'personal intern' —not true.
They had been told that Peter was staying at the Compound with the Avengers for protection until the criminals were caught. The story was close enough to the truth, so both his school and aunt easily believed it. Maybe because May was told he was in 'shock', she would go easy on Peter when he inevitably returned.