It was by chance that Bucky discovered another one of Peter's spider quirks. The soldier was in a good mood and decided to bake some cookies for when the teen came home from school to start his Christmas break. Bucky was halfway through his second batch with the first in the oven when Peter got home and the reaction was instantaneous.
"What is that smell?!" The teen covers his hand with his sweater before placing it over his mouth and nose.
Tony looks up at him with bewilderment. "Barnes is making cookies...but they smell great so I wanna know what the hell you're sniffing over there."
Peter cautiously walks into the kitchen and Bucky watches as he slowly pulls his hand away from his face, sniffs the bowl of raw dough, and promptly scrunches his nose in disgust. "Did you mistake vinegar for extract?"
The winter soldier frowns. "No? I'm sure Nat would have said something if I did."
Natasha waves her dough covered spoon in Peter's direction. "It tastes like it's supposed to маленький паук."
Stephen joins them at the island with a thoughtful expression, grabs a small bottle, and unscrews the lid as he turns to Peter. "Cub."
Peter looks up at the sorcerer and the elder holds the bottle up to the teens nose, and to everyone's surprise, the boy practically hisses and jumps up to the ceiling. He had no idea what Stephen just shoved into his face but it smelled awful! What was Bucky putting in his cookies?
"Peppermint." Stephen supplies as if reading his thoughts. "Spiders have an aversion to it."
Tony bursts into laughter and Bucky smiles softly when he looks up at the scowling vigilante. "After this I'll make you peppermint free cookies. Sorry kid."
"Really? I don't want you to change anything just for me."
"Don't worry about it. I can switch to vanilla and everyone else can eat these. This was all supposed to be for you anyway."
The brightest smile they all had every seen plasters itself on Peter's face. "Seriously?! Thanks Bucky! I'd hug you but that peppermint really smells awful."
"I'll collect later."
Peter nods and jumps back down to the floor and rushes off to his room as Stephen caps the bottle and returns it to the counter, and Tony asks Friday to open the windows. Hopefully it would help dampen the intensity of the smell so Peter could comfortably join them later. Since the smell was bad, he was probably going to hide out in his room for a while and do his homework.
Stephen blinks at Natasha when she smiles at him. "What?"
"You called him cub."
The sorcerer blushes. "Damn."
Nat and Bucky high-five as Tony points at his boyfriend. "Let's not forget he responded to it."
"You're all nuisances. I hate you all."
"That's not what you said last night." Tony mutters into his coffee.
"Ugh."
Stephen walks out of the kitchen and instead joins Rhodey, Loki, and Steve in the living room. The colonel was watching tv, Steve was sketching again, and Loki was reading. Quiet, mature, and respectable people.
"Tony owes me fifty bucks."
Stephen cocks his head. "What for?"
"I bet him you would call Peter your cub within two weeks of Nat starting the idea. He said a month."
Nevermind. Not respectable people.
The sorcerer sighs heavily and rubs the bridge of his nose. "I will never hear the end of this will I?
"Not until after everyone else knows." Steve reminds him.
Of course everyone wasn't here to hear his slip of tongue so that only prolonged the verbal torture he was sure to receive. It would probably last a month at most once everyone knew.
A month of misery.
"Just for that I'm changing the channel."
Rhodey protests when Stephen snatches the remote from the colonel and changes the channel to Spongebob.
"Seriously Strange?"
"I'm doing it to spite you."
Rhodey sniggers. "You're spending way too much time with my nephew. Anyway, joke's on you. I love Spongebob."
"But I'm the one who spends too much time with Peter?"
The colonel smiles but says nothing and both turn their attention to the cartoon. About an hour passes before Peter braves leaving his room, and he sits in between Rhodey and Stephen.
"Awesome. Spongebob. Why are you guys watching this though?"
Loki smiles at his book. "Your mother's idea of spite backfired spectacularly."
Peter shrugs and rubs his nose. "Still smells kind of bad." He mutters, and to the sorcerer's surprise, buries his face in Stephen's shoulder.
"Spiderling, what are you doing?"
"It helps cover the peppermint. You smell like tea leaves and incense."
"Does everyone have a defining smell?"
"I've only noticed yours and Dad's so far."
"What about Tones then?" Rhodey asks.
"Motor oil and coffee."
The colonel snorts. "Yeah. That sounds about right."
Bucky walks in with a plate full of cookies and sets them on the coffee table in front of Peter.
"Peppermint free like I promised."
Peter jumps to his feet and hugs the man. "Thanks Uncle Bucky!"
"Sure thing kid. I left the other cookies in the kitchen."
Peter sits back down and tucks into the plate of confections while the rest get up and leave the teen with his cartoons to get the other cookies. It didn't take very long for the peppermint to affect the consumers as well because when Stephen had his fill of the peppermint cookies and rejoined Peter, the boy immediately moved away from him. His natural smell overpowered with peppermint.
Peppermint was banned from the family floor after that. Tony and Stephen didn't appreciate their own son avoiding them like the plague for twenty-four hours. It took scrubbing themselves raw in the shower, Tony drinking more coffee, and Stephen more tea for Peter to handle even sitting in the same room.
A/N: A guest asked if I take prompts/requests and I wanted to say I do as long as I've already written about the fandom and there are no OC's!