Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony hated it when meetings ran long. Honestly, he hated meetings no matter how long they took, but this one had been particularly egregious. It had been called by a member of the board who had something against Tony making their products actually affordable and who would not shut up about how it had been such a bad idea to make Pepper CEO, and how naming Peter and Harley as Pepper heirs was an even bigger blunder. Then when he got there, because Pepper had insisted he had to be there, he found out that all of what they talked about would have been better formatted as an email. And then once they were done discussing what they went there to discuss that same board member had cornered Tony on his way out of the meeting room to discuss the release timeline of the latest StarkPhone, and because he’s working on making Pepper’s job easier he stood there and listened to that asshole talk down to him about its features and its price. Tony should have gotten a medal for the level of control he had shown. He hadn’t punched him, yelled at him, or walked away mid-sentence. He was certain that his eye had twitched at some point, but really who thought that giving their customers privacy was a bad idea?

The whole walk from the meeting room to his lab he had been fuming, muttering under his breath about the idiocy of what he just heard, but was soothed by the knowledge that one Peter Parker would be waiting for him once he got there. Originally the meeting was supposed to end 10 minutes before Peter was set to arrive, so he should have had enough time to make it to the lab around the same time Peter did, but the meeting had run late, and that infuriating board member had delayed his arrival. He had texted Peter to let him know he would be running late and to let him know that he could get started on something while he waited if he wanted to, just to stay away from anything that Tony required supervision to use like the dangerous chemicals and the welding gear. Peter had texted back an affirmation followed by an indecipherable set of emojis and then a few minutes later a text to let Tony know he had arrived. So when Tony opened the door to his lab he fully expected to see Peter fiddling with a bot, going over the Spider-Man suit blueprints, or even just twirling around on one of the swivel stools that Tony kept around for self-regulation purposes. Instead, nothing. No Peter to be found. He knew that Peter was here. He double-checked his phone, and the last text he had gotten had been from Peter saying he was in the lab and his school backpack was leaning up against one of the tables. Still Tony couldn’t see him.

“Peter?” he called. “You in here Underoos?”

“Up here Mr. Stark!” That voice had come from the ceiling. So Tony looked up, and there Peter was, sitting cross-legged on the high ceiling of his lab, with a colorful device in his hands that Tony didn’t recognize. Tony jolted a little in fright, raising a hand up to his heart. When Peter noticed Tony had found him he gave a little wave.

“Holy shit, you’re gonna give me a heart attack,” He said with a stern glare, moving his hands to his hips. The pose was something he knew Pepper would give him flak for if she ever saw. Something about him looking distinctly parental when he did it. He ignored that voice reminding him of that because Peter was on the ceiling. On. The. Ceiling. 

Peter gave a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s comfortable up here, Mr. Stark.” Logically Tony knew that the kid was enhanced, that his powers let him stick to walls, and that he frequently did more dangerous things in the Spider-Man suit, but none of that soothed the anxiety thrumming under his veins at seeing his kid intern sitting upside down 25 feet off of the ground. 

“Comfortable or not you’re freaking me out, kid. What are you doing up there?” 

“Sorry, Mr. Stark, but today at lunch Ned and I finally finished restoring my old Game Boy so I’ve been playing Pokemon Sapphire ever since, and when I got here and I knew you were running late I decided to keep playing, and well, I don’t know. It didn’t feel quite right down here so I went up to the ceiling and it was much better. There’s something just soothing about being up there y’know?” It was a little strange watching Peter’s naturally excited mannerisms upside down. Tony was used to the way that Peter moved his hands about as he talked, but he’d never watched them from the floor while Peter was 20-plus feet above his head. As much as he disliked the feeling he hoped he never got used to it because that would mean it would happen enough times for Tony to acclimate to this strange behavior. 

“No, I don’t, but I’ll take your word for it kiddo. D’ya think you could start following the laws of gravity for me?” Peter rolled his eyes, but stood up and began walking upside down towards the wall, and then down the wall, and then finally back onto the floor. 

Peter was making his way over to where he’d left his bag when he said “I think it has something to do with the spider DNA.”

“What does?”

“The ceiling thing. I think it’s because of the spider DNA. Spiders like chilling up on the ceiling, hence I also like the ceiling.” 

“Uh huh.”

“I’m being serious Mr. Stark. I didn’t want to go up to the ceiling until after I got bit by that radioactive spider.” 

“I don’t doubt it kiddo, I’m questioning my sanity at the moment I decided to take you on.” Peter’s face screwed up in a way that said I know you’re joking, but I still didn’t like that . 

“You love me, Mr. Stark.” Peter looked unsure as he said about it, obviously ready to play it off as a joke if Tony denied it.

Tony sighed. “Yes, I do, Underoos.” And boy was the way Peter’s face lit up worth the panic of finding him sitting on the ceiling. 

Chapter Text

Pepper had never done much cooking. When she was young, her parents had always enjoyed doing it themselves. The kitchen was their space, and the way they showed their love for her had been through their food. Then through college, she hadn’t had a kitchen to learn in, nor the time or money to really cook. And again when she graduated and had immediately thrown herself into work she hadn’t had much time then either, but through all this time she had been really stressed. And well, you didn’t need a full kitchen to make tea. All you needed was tea bags, a kettle, and the right-sized mug.

The first year she had been making tea had been her first year of college, and while she had thought the tea was good, she knew now it hadn’t been. Pepper was proud that over the years she had prepared each individual tea she enjoyed. She knew just what mug went with each tea, and how long she liked each flavor steeped to make the tea just the strength she wanted. She had even gone the extra step of learning the way the special people in her life liked their tea, and what flavors they liked. Happy liked chamomile, but he liked it weaker than she did, and he liked it in the cup with all of the ducks on the outside. Tony didn’t like tea but used to have a very strong peppermint-flavored one. After Peter came along and they found out spiders didn’t like peppermint, and that had also transferred to him, Pepper and Tony willingly threw out all the tea with even a hint of mint in it. After that, it had taken a while to find a tea that Tony would drink. It had taken some trial and error and the switching out of a few mugs and changing the steeping times just a little but she had found a good citrus one that Tony would tolerate on those long nights when he refused to go to sleep. Even better was that it came from a wonderful New York-based company that was owned by the sweetest little old lady Pepper had ever known. He liked it in a mug Peter had painted in his art class. It was a plain white mug that Peter had painted “World’s Best Kinda Dad” on and then decorated with little blue dots he said looked like arc reactors, and he liked it with an egregious amount of sugar, but no honey. 

And Peter. Sweet, precious Peter. He loved a good green tea. Apparently, he and May had a collection of it back at their apartment in Queens. He liked to make it himself with a bit of sugar and honey and in a mug, Tony had designed for him after he had received Peter’s “World’s Best Kinda Dad” mug. It was a solid blue mug with a red interior and said on the front “World’s Best Spidey-Son.” Peter loved that mug and had nearly cried when he received it. It had taken a little while for Peter to trust her to make his tea, and even then, the first time she had done it he had hovered like a concerned parent. After the first couple of times, he stopped hovering and would gladly accept the red and blue mug from her when he was focused on a project in the lab with Tony. That trust was something beautiful, and Pepper could see why Tony would do anything for him. 

Of course, all these teas have to go somewhere. She’s got heaps and heaps of teabags and loose leaf and they all have their special boxes and tins that she wasn’t going to get rid of just to save space. They were beautiful and something deep inside Pepper just couldn’t be rid of them. So Tony, in all of his billionaire gift-giving glory had dedicated a special cabinet in their new kitchen just for her teas. It was the cabinet right below where she kept her kettle, and also under a drawer where she was allowed to store all of her little tea gadgets as well. It was the sweetest thing, and it was so wonderful to have her own little section of the kitchen that was just for her. It was special. Just like how her parents had their special little parts of the kitchen that were just for them, Pepper now had her own. 

She was making her way to her kitchen territory today to make herself a cup of chai. She was still working out just how to make it perfectly, and she had been looking forward to this cup all day. She had a feeling that today would be the day she would get it right. However, when she turned the corner into the kitchen she was a little alarmed to find that all of her teas had been removed from their special cabinet and placed on the kitchen counter. That alarm increased when she noticed that the shelving unit that was usually inside the cabinet had also been removed. 

She hurriedly set her bag down on the ground, instead of its usual chair, and made her way over to her tea cabinet. Steeling herself before she opened it, and then…

“SHHHHHII- PETER!” There Peter was, wedged into her now empty tea cabinet. Pepper could feel her heartbeat speeding up. There was no way that Peter should have been able to get in there. It was far too small.

“Hi, Miss. Potts!” Peter gave her a bright smile. A smile that normally never failed to make Pepper smile right back at him. Not this time though.

“Hi, Peter. W-what are you doing in there?” And really that was the million-dollar question. That and how did he get in there? No seriously how? Because Pepper was sure that human bodies were not supposed to bend like that.

“I like small spaces. I wasn’t feeling so good earlier. High anxiety day and all that. I just needed a place that would give me a good squeeze y’know?” Pepper did not know. “And I couldn’t really find a squeezy enough place, but then I saw the cabinets and I knew they would be just the perfect size!” 

“Well sweetie, I’m sorry to hear that today isn’t going so well for you, but uh, are you okay in there? It looks a little tight, and y-you look a little bent?” It came out more like a question than a statement. She couldn’t help it though! She was pretty sure teenager’s bones weren’t supposed to bend like that.

“Oh no, I’m okay Miss. Potts. Did you know that spiders don’t have bones?” Well, that was a little out of left field.

“No, I can’t say I did.”

“Well they don’t, and well when I got bit I already had bones, so the spider DNA just made them bendy? I’m not quite sure how no bones DNA plus yes bones DNA equals bendy bones, but I’m not complaining! Spiders also like small spaces and bendy bones help with that.” He unwound an arm from his little hiding spot to gesture vaguely at his situation. Pepper had to hold in a snort. The situation was a little comical.

“Well, would you and your bendy bones like some help getting out of there? I’m sure I can get you some tea to help you calm down if your anxiety is still high.” Pepper reached out a hand towards him, and he took it.

“Yes please, Miss. Potts. If I’m being honest with you I was a little stuck, and I think I would really like that tea please.” Pepper gave his hand a solid yank, and Peter spilled out onto the kitchen tile. Using his hand that was still in her grip she helped yank the wirey teenager up to his feet. “I would like the tea not because I’m still feeling super anxious. The squeezing from the cabinet kinda solved it, but I just really like the way you make my tea.” And oh, if that didn’t warm Pepper’s heart a little. 

“No problem Peter.” And she would certainly make a note to tell Tony about Peter’s bendy bones so that he wouldn’t get the same fright she did.

Chapter Text

It took a lot to surprise someone like Natasha. She had been trained extensively in the Red Room since she was very young in order to make sure no one could get the drop on her. However, she did have to admit the way that she couldn’t turn off that awareness was more a trauma response than it was actual training. And then even once she left the Red Room and started working for S.H.E.I.L.D., she still needed that hyper-awareness for her job. She was still a spy, and being able to predict “surprises” was important. Clint called it paranoia, she called it being good at her job. And again, she had already admitted that she couldn’t exit work mode was a trauma response so he couldn’t say “I told you so.” 

Another part of being a spy and all of the trauma that came with it was the nightmares. No matter how many times it happened she could never get used to the vivid images that her brain conjured up once she had gone to sleep. Or the way she woke up with a gasp, blankets on the floor, legs tangled in her sheets and drenched in sweat. Honestly, the worst part of it all was that she could never get to sleep after she woke up like that. 

Contrary to popular belief, she enjoyed getting a good night’s sleep. Sleep is important, it keeps your mind sharp, heals you, and makes sure that you are fully prepared for the next day. Now don’t get her wrong, she had been trained to be able to operate as close to full capacity as you could when you running on fumes, but she’d also been taught about all of the negative effects that sleep deprivation had on the body.

So, when like many other nights Nat had woken up in a cold sweat, breathing too fast and too shallow to get a full breath she began her routine. A tried and true method of making sure that sleep would find her when she inevitably wandered back to bed. The first step was to take a nice warm bath. It would clean the sweat off of her before it dried in that way that always had made her skin crawl, and the fancy jets in the tub loosened her tense muscles. It was on nights like these that Natasha was most thankful for Tony and his propensity for buying the fanciest most expensive option for anything because the beautiful jacuzzi baths that he had installed into the ensuite bathrooms for all of the Avengers were a true godsend. As were the preset temperature options, because all Nat had to do when she walked into the bathroom was turn on the taps, hit the warmest preset option she had programmed in, and wait. Automatically when the water was at the perfect temperature the plug would go down and the bath would start to fill. The only thing she had to think about at this time was if she wanted a bubble bath, bath salts, or a bath bomb. Tonight she chose the bath salts. Pepper had gifted her an expensive bag of lavender-scented ones a few months ago after she had noticed that Nat had enjoyed that scent best on their monthly girl's spa trip. It reminded her that she needed to check with Pepper to see if she wouldn’t mind inviting Wanda for their trip this month. She really deserved a good massage and an expensive facial on Stark’s dime. Once the bath had filled up and the bath salts had dissolved she sunk herself into the warmth of the water with a soft sigh. She could almost see the way the tension bled out of her body and calmness seeped into her bones. 

Nat sat in there until the water started to cool too much for her liking. She thanked Stark again for his fancy tub when she didn’t have to fight with the plug at all to get it to pop back up again, and she listened to the sounds of the water draining as she dried herself off.

As always when she was washing up at home she went through her skin and hair care routine. Clint said it was excessive, and teased her sometimes for how long it took her, but after years and years of hair dye, and not being allowed to have nice things, she thought she deserved it. And the routine of it all soothed her. There was nothing quite like going through the motions of this routine to calm her down. The soft scents of her products permeated the room with the help of the leftover steam from her bath. 

After changing into a new set of pajamas she returned to her bedroom to assess the damage. She thankfully hadn’t torn any sheets this time, but her bed was still all unkempt. She stripped the bed and threw the sweaty sheets down the laundry chute before opening up one of her closets to retrieve some fresh ones. This was her second least favorite part about these nights. The nightmare took number one, but Nat had yet to find anyone who enjoyed wrestling with the mattress and the fitted sheet when it came time to change their sheets. She did it anyway, knowing that doing this now was preferable to trying to go back to sleep in sweaty sheets. Even though she was practiced in making her own bed, it still did take a while due to the cursed fitted sheet never doing what she needed it to do. Still, she got it done, and after surveying and approving her handiwork, she turned to leave her room. The next part of her routine required a kitchen.

No one in the tower knew about her hidden hot chocolate stash, and she wanted to keep it that way. She knew that most of the Avengers had not-so-secret sweet tooths, and that if they found out about the fancy hot chocolate materials she was hiding they would “disappear under mysterious circumstances.” She was smart enough not to hide her things in the kitchen itself. They were in a false part of the wall in the hallway leading up to the kitchen. She’d checked when she had first moved in where the cameras could see. Tony had promised her that the cameras were only ever activated if FRIDAY thought there was an emergency, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. Her hiding place was strategically placed in the only blind spot on the floor that she shared with the other Avengers, sans Tony. 

After collecting her ingredients, and returning the wall to its natural-looking state, she finished making her way to the kitchen. She was so familiar with the motions of making her hot chocolate that it took her a few seconds to register that the slightly glowing dots above the cabinets were not a new appliance Stark had added to the shared kitchen space. They were eyes. There were glowing eyes above the kitchen cabinets. Nat was well trained to not react on the off chance something did surprise her, so she didn’t jump, didn’t yell, and thankfully did not drop any of her hot chocolate-making materials. However, her heart rate did spike, and she reached for the knife block, but before she could grab a knife she heard a familiar voice come from the glowing eyes.

“Hello Miss. Natasha Black Widow. What are you doing up?” It was just Peter, Stark’s personal intern, and Spider-Man. Peter had only recently revealed his secret identity to the Avengers, and while Nat had figured it out ages before she did him the courtesy of acting shocked. She figured that Clint knew that she was faking, but didn’t care much. So long as Peter thought he had been in control of who knew about his alter-ego. 

“Please, Natasha or Nat is just fine.” Now that she knew the glowing eyes weren’t a threat she could feel her heart calming down. “What are you doing up there Peter?” She knew she was avoiding his question, but she didn’t want to discuss the nightmares she had been having since she was even younger than Peter with him. Peter peered over the edge of the cabinet, giving Nat a better view of his face. It also stopped the strange glowing of his eyes. He was giving her a look like he was assessing whether or not to call her on her deflection. His eyes were also bloodshot and she could see the tear tracks going down his face, the light reflecting off them. 

“I- I um, had a nightmare?” He said it like it was a question. Like he was unsure of telling her. “I couldn’t sleep in my room anymore so I crawled up here. It felt safer.” The more he spoke, the more certain he sounded, but also more fearful. It was like speaking it all out loud made it more real. She could see the way he was curling in on himself on top of the cabinet, and she could feel her heart breaking for him just a little. He was much too young to be getting nightmares like her. Despite all of the crazy things she’d seen Spider-Man go through during her research of the arachnid-themed hero, Peter somehow maintained a youthful innocence and optimism that had been sorely missing from the Avengers. She hadn’t realized that he was hiding this kind of pain, and now that she knew she just wanted to wrap him up forever and protect him. She supposed that was a normal reaction to have to Peter’s existence if the way Stark treated him was anything to go by.

“I’ll let you in on a secret: I had a nightmare too,” she told him. Peter uncurled a little and leaned out over the top of the cabinet a little more to get a better look at her. 

“Really?” And he just sounded so small, it only increased the need to fix this, to make him feel better. 

“Yes really. And do you know what I do to make myself feel better afterward?” Peter shook his head. “I make myself hot chocolate. I’ll make you a cup if you promise not to tell anyone about it.” Peter nodded his head so hard she worried for his neck. “Well why don’t you make your way down here, and maybe I’ll teach you how I do it too.” Peter moved swiftly from his hiding spot on top of the cabinet down to the floor in a way that would have been perfect for a horror film; head first down the wall in a bear crawl. He popped up from the floor right next to her, curls bouncing and a little more light in his eyes. 

And if he left the kitchen that night his stomach full of hot chocolate and the knowledge of where she hid it, how to make it, and a standing invitation to join her for hot chocolate whenever he wanted. Well, that was between her and her fellow spider.

Chapter Text

Steve had learned to love routine. In his time pre-serum, running around Brooklyn with Bucky, routine had been nowhere to be found. What use did twenty-something-year-olds have for strict, regimented routines? None, really. It was in the army that he and routine had been introduced. And he loved it. It was nice not having to worry about what you were going to do the next day, it was all planned out for you. And while he hadn’t spent all that much time in the army, and usually didn’t follow any other rules or regulations they set, he thrived under the routine they implemented. 

After having been woken up in 2011 and realizing he no longer had the army to set his routine, he had spiraled for a little while before setting a new one. Wake up, make his bed, run, shower, and breakfast, and then the rest of the day was free and open. Sure he still spiraled after, his whole world had been left in the past without him, but the simple routine propped him up, and kept him from completely falling to pieces. 

Now, many years later, living in Avengers Tower again, he had a new routine. It was looser than the first one he had made for himself, more based on doing certain workouts or other activities on certain days, but it was still a routine. Today was Wednesday, which meant it was his day to work with the punching bags in the gym. Some Wednesdays Bucky would join him and they would spar, superhuman strength on superhuman strength. While Nat could easily keep up with him, and her training meant that she was more than capable of taking him on, he was always worried that he would hurt her if he went all out. Thor usually stopped in when he was on Earth, and he and the god could go toe to toe, but Bucky was the only reliable sparring partner he had. 

This particular Wednesday, Bucky was out on a mission with Sam. Something simple, easy, but still enough that a ball of worry had made a home in the center of his chest. He’d had trouble all week untangling it, and had been really looking forward to being able to take out the excess jittery energy it generated on the special strength punching bags Tony had commissioned in the gym. It was also because of this worry that he didn’t notice that he wasn’t alone when he entered the gym.  

Setting down the water bottle he had brought along, Steve got to work warming up. And after stretching, doing a few warmup laps, and a delightful round of “Sally Up” squats (something Nat had shown him shortly after the Avengers had formed), he took up position by the punching bag, fully ready to continue with this very important part of his Wednesday routine. It was as he was throwing his first punch that he heard footsteps echoing in the large gym. Pausing and turning to see who it was who had entered, he heard a barely audible giggle. 

“Clint, if you’re in the vents and trying to mess with me you can stop now,” he called out to where he knew the vent Clint favored in the gym. No response. 

A little off balance, and a little concerned, Steve turned back to the punching bag. He fully intended on ignoring whatever childish prank Clint had intended on pulling, but that was before he heard more footsteps. Footsteps that didn’t sound like they were coming from the vents. Because how could they? The vents were a crawl space. No one made footstep sounds while crawling. 

Now Steve was really nervous. Not just the low-grade thrum of his concern for Bucky, but a proper nervousness that had him sweating for reasons other than his short warm-up. A quick scan of the room revealed no one, and so Steve set to looking around all of the equipment to see if someone might be hiding from him to play a prank. Once or twice on his hunt, he heard those damned footsteps again, and a few more rounds of those unsettling, echoing giggles. Did he need to ask Stark if he'd built the tower on some kind of messed-up historical sight that might attract paranormal activity? Steve wasn't superstitious by nature, but if the last few years had taught him anything, it was that even if you can't imagine it, it still probably exists anyway.

“Seriously, stop it. I- just where are you?” Right as the words left his mouth Steve heard an unsettling thud from behind him, and he whipped around to find one Peter Parker crouched on the ground trying to hide a smile behind his hand. 

“Sorry Mr. Captain America Sir, you just forgot to look up.” As he said it Peter pointed up in the direction of the ceiling, and so Steve finally looked up. And there he spotted a hammock made of webs in one of the corners, suspended nearly 40 feet off the floor.

“Jesus kid did you jump down from there?” Steve asked, searching for signs of pain from the kid. Stark would beat him within an inch of his life if he found out Peter had been injured on Steve’s watch.

“I’m fine. I’m part spider remember? I swung down. Besides my bones are bendy now. I don’t know if I can even break them anymore!” Peter sounded a little too enthused for someone whose bones could bend. Steve found himself strangely grateful that no animal DNA had found its way into his version of the super serum. 

Suddenly faced with the awkwardness of not really knowing what to do with a super-powered teenager, Steve awkwardly jerked his thumb to where the padded mats were set up for sparring and asked “Want me to teach you how to fight?” Steve didn’t really know what he was supposed to do with him. He had never really had the chance to chat with Peter one-on-one, since coming to live in Avengers Tower. Stark was a tad bit overprotective of the budding superhero. It must have been the right to say though, because the teen immediately perked up.

“Really?” he said, just a little bit of hero worship Steve had grown accustomed to hearing since becoming Captain America creeping into his voice.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” 

And so that was how Steve found out that spiders also had a strength disproportionate to their body size, and gained a new sparring partner he wasn’t afraid of hurting. Mostly. The threat of an angry Stark still loomed over his shoulder, but he found that he too understood the need to wrap Peter up in bubble wrap and never allowing anything to hurt him ever again.