Chapter Text
It was quiet. That was Peter’s first thought of the lake house when they moved back after the battle; after the craziness of the battle and Captain Marvel snapping Thanos into oblivion and finding out five years had passed and then finding out five years had passed and he had a little sister and his dad was married to Pepper and they had moved out of New York and the Avengers had disbanded and… yeah. It had been crazy.
Peter sighed, stretching, staring up at the exposed timber beam ceiling of his loft room at the lake house.
It was late into the night. He should be sleeping.
Peter closed his eyes, trying to get his body to get with the program, but they flipped open again quickly.
It was just so quiet out here. There was no noise, no traffic, no boats, no people. Just the background rustle of the trees swaying outside the window, the distant gurgle of the river than ran down at the bottom of the property and the constant creaking of the wooden house around him.
It had only been two days since Peter and his dad had moved back to the cabin. After the battle there had been noise and people and crowds and reunions. And Tony hadn’t let Peter stray far from his side throughout.
But now the chaos part was over and the slow trudge back to normality began. And apparently for Peter that meant this; a cabin in the woods with a brand-new stepmother and half-sister.
Peter took a deep breath and tried to quieten his mind.
“Hey FRIDAY,” he called to the ceiling. “Can you play some white noise?”
That had always helped him zone out when the noise had become too loud back in New York; when the scream of sirens on the streets below kept him from sleep.
A moment went by. Then nothing.
Peter frowned and pushed himself up into his elbows. “FRIDAY?” he tried again.
Nothing.
Nothing but the creak of timber.
-
“Hey, Dad?” Peter said the next morning, jumping down the last three steps of the stairs and right into the kitchen. “I think there is something wrong with FRIDAY.”
His eyes landed on the fruit bowl, and he grabbed an apple, swinging up to sit on the counter.
He looked up to see his dad looking at him with a smile as he busied himself at the kitchen island. Eggs shells and the remnants of peppers littered the surface next to the chopping board and large bowl.
“I agree. Saturday is a far superior day.”
“No Dad,” Peter chuckled. “I called for her in my room and she didn’t respond. Have you not installed her up there yet?”
His dad’s response was cut when the back door opened and Pepper walked in.
“Her highness is wanting her breakfast,” Pepper announced, taking off her boots by the back door.
“Almost done,” his dad muttered, scrambling the eggs in the pan and accepting Pepper’s kiss to his cheek.
“Morning Peter,” Pepper said, half an eye on her phone. “Don’t sit on the counter.”
“Oh right, sorry.”
Peter jumped down. He kept forgetting these new rules. Before his dad had never had a problem with him sitting on the counter. Peter remembered sitting on the counter at their house in Malibu while his dad tried to teach him the recipe for Nuna’s famous lasagna. He remembered sitting on the counter of the Stark tower penthouse kitchen arguing with Steve Rogers about the correct ratio of sugar to flour in cupcakes… but that was Before.
Now there was no sitting on the counter.
His dad and Pepper moved around each other in the small kitchen, busy getting the plates and food ready for breakfast.
“Dad,” Peter said again when it was clear the man had forgotten they were in the middle of talking. “FRIDAY?”
“Oh yeah,” Tony responded distractedly, plating out the eggs. “FRIDAY. We only have her installed in the library here buddy.”
Peter blinked. And then blinked again. He couldn’t be hearing right.
“What?”
“It didn’t make sense having an A.I. here,” Pepper said with a small smile while she buttered some toast for Morgan. “We wanted the lake house to be different. To be a home.”
“Malibu was a home.”
“Well, there you needed an A.I. just to communicate from one end of the house to the other,” his dad said, already dishing an omelette onto a plate. “Don’t need that here. It’s more…”
“Homier,” Pepper interjected. “And we didn’t want Morgan to grown up spoilt with an A.I. catering to her ever whims,” Pepper said with a small chuckle. “She already has your dad and Happy for that.”
“Hey,” Tony interjected, faking hurt.
Peter frowned. “I’m not spoilt.”
“Oh, I know you’re not honey,” Pepper said rubbing a hand on his shoulder.
But before anyone could say anything else the back door banged open, and Morgan rushed in.
“Breakfast. Breakfast. Breakfast,” she chanted, jumping up and down on the doormat.
“Yes, yes Madam Secretary,” Tony mumbled good naturedly. “Your breakfast is served.”
-
Peter returned to his bedroom after breakfast.
It was odd to stare at the ceiling and know for certain that there were no wires running through it. No other worldly voice that might call out from the sky to ask if he needed anything.
It was weird. There had always been an A.I. in their house. Ever since Peter could remember. And once JARVIS had turned into Vision, FRIDAY had been there.
JARVIS was the one that read Peter bedtime stories when his dad was working late. FRIDAY had been the one who helped Peter through adjusting to life with enhanced senses, helping him drown out noise, coaching him through breathing exercises, adjusting the temperature of his room to make sure he was never too cold.
A knock on his bedroom door tore Peter from his own mind. By the time he had raised his head his dad was already peaking in through the part open door.
“Alright champ? Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” Peter nodded, pulling himself to sit against his headboard.
“You OK?” his dad asked, coming to sit on the end of the bed. “You left pretty quick after breakfast.”
“Yeah. Just… wanted some space you know.”
Tony looked back at him, his gaze shrewd. For all that his dad effected an air of disinterest to the wider public Peter always felt that the world underestimated just how smart his dad was. You couldn’t exactly invent time travel if you were an idiot.
“Morgan can be a lot in the mornings,” his dad said in the end. “She will calm down in a few hours once the morning endorphins wear off.”
“Right.”
An awkward air hung between them which irritated Peter. He had never felt awkward around his dad before. And now everything was different, his dad was different. And Peter didn’t know what he was expected to do.
His dad looked up at the ceiling and Peter followed his gaze.
But there was nothing there. Nothing but ceiling and timber.
“It’s a bit different here isn’t it?” his dad said in the end.
“I guess,” Peter shrugged, bringing his knees up to his chest. “It’s quiet.”
“Thought you would be glad not having to listen to the roaring chaos of the city.”
Peter just shrugged again, not sure what to say.
His dad took a deep breath, resting his hand on the top of Peter’s sock clad foot.
“After you…” his dad’s jaw jumped, and he quickly looked away. “When you were gone, Pepper didn’t want me to get lost in my own head. I built JARVIS because I was lonely. I didn’t have anyone else to talk to. And I built FRIDAY because I had lost JARVIS. I just… I didn’t need them anymore.”
Peter wanted to frown. ‘You had me’ Peter wanted to say. ‘You weren’t lonely. You had me to talk to’. But his dad was looking at him with that look that said he wanted Peter to be OK; that he was worried he had done something wrong and needed Peter to tell him it was OK.
So Peter did what he always did.
“Yeah it’s fine Dad,” he said with a small smile he didn’t feel. “I was just surprised that’s all.”
His dad’s smile quickly turned to relieved.
“But if you want I can install Karen up here for you. Give you someone to retort to your constant ramblings.”
“Nah,” Peter said with a shrug. “It’s fine. I can just talk to you guys.”
Tony’s smile back was blinding. “Exactly.”