-Peter's P.O.V-

"Are you sure that this will work?" Peter asks warily, switching between looking at Shuri and James.

Shuri scoffed, "You doubt me, Peter? I thought we were friends."

"That was a- that was a joke right?" Peter wondered. He was slowly getting better at telling the difference between someone joking and being serious. He was able to work on it, which was the thing he was most happy about. Sometimes, though, he just needed clarification.

James nodded with a small grin, hand tightening reassuringly around Peter's, "It was, Bud, don't worry. And this'll work. It got all the programming out of me. It'll help you too."

Peter bit his lower lip. That was another thing he was working on- showing unease. Showing any type of emotion, really. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Don't worry, Peter," Shuri assured, "This will take… an hour at most."

James frowned, "It took me forty five minutes."

Shuri sighed, "Yes… well, you had more memories from before HYDRA than Peter. It was easier for you, than it will be for Peter."

"So you're saying it'll take longer because I have less happy memories?" Peter asked. Of course it wouldn't be that easy for him. HYDRA was following him even after everything. They were following him even when he had gotten away. Assholes.

"Essentially," Shuri answered, "Now this won't block out the memories of HYDRA. But it will bring back the memories you cannot remember. Albeit it will not be all at once, but it should take one to three weeks for them all to come back."

Peter nodded, took a deep breath, and looked Shuri in the eyes, "Let's get started then."

James and Peter walked up the stairs to the common room. They both preferred them to the elevator, so it was an unsaid agreement that they would take the stairs when walking together. "So, how do you feel, Pete?" James asked.

Peter hummed, "I feel… lighter? Is that an answer?"

James smiled, "I think if you told anyone else that they might be a little confused, but I get it."

Peter nodded, and they climbed the last staircase in silence. When they opened the door to the common room, Wanda met them at the door, "Hello, Peter. How do you feel?"

Peter smiles, as much as the question had been repeated over the month and a half after the rescue, he would never get over the feeling of people asking if he was okay. "Lighter," Peter answers.

Wanda have Peter a one armed hug, and led him to the kitchen, "We were going to surprise you until Steve pointed out how terrible of an idea that was."

"Yeah," Peter chuckled, "That probably wouldn't have been the best idea." James laughed behind the two.

"Good thing star-spangled-man-with-a-plan pointed it out before we went through with it then," Tony said. "We made cake. As a congratulatory to you for overcoming those HYDRA asshats."

"A cake?" Peter wondered, head titling a bit with a small smile. He was doing that a lot recently- smiling that is. It felt good.

"Yup. Made entirely of waffles. We also have a breakfast bar. So go ahead, Bud. Everything's up to you," Tony smirked, making a wide gesture with his arms.

Everything's up to you. Peter's smile grew. He could get used to having a choice.

"Kill it, Spider," Zemo orders.

"I don't- I can't-" Peter mumbles, staring at the small dog in front of him. A hit to the back of his head send him right to the ground. The whine from the dog mixing with the ringing in Peter's ears.

Zemo pulls Peter up roughly by the boy's hair, "Now, Spider, either you kill this… animal, or you get treated like it. Now choose.

Peter aims the gun again, tears welling up in his eyes, "I…"

"Hurry on now, Spider. You have five seconds."

"W-Wait," Peter stammered, he couldn't do this. He couldn't do this. The dog never did anything to him, and Peter always wanted a pet dog. He couldn't kill the one when it was right in front of him.

"Five…"

"Please, I can't-"

"Peter, wake up."

"Four."

"I can't do it- he never did anything to me-"

"Pete, c'mon, kid."

"Three. Hurry it up, Spider before we treat you like an animal just because you took to long," Zemo growled.

"It's just- it's just a puppy! It's scared!" Peter didn't know if he was talking about himself or the puppy anymore. He wanted to go home. He wanted his mom and his dad.

"Peter, it's James! I'm right here, Kid. Open your eyes. Wake up."

"Two!"

Peter's body racked with the sobs coming from him. He had to do this. He had to do this, but he couldn't do this-

"Buddy, please."

"One!"

Bang!

Slap!

"No!" Peter screamed, his fist going through with a sloppy punch. There were two figures on either side of him. Danger, his mind screamed, Get away. Fight back. Getawaygetawaygetaway… Peter sent a kick to the one on his left, and another hit to the one on his right. He caught a glance at his hands, and saw red. There was blood on his hands. There would always be blood on his hands. He was a monster. A murderer. He was a killer, and there would always be blood on his hands-

"Peter, it's me," the figure from his left was standing now. Arms in a universal surrender motion. "It's James. You're at the compound. You're safe."

Peter struggled to take a deep breath. He was Peter. That was James which meant the other figure he had knocked off his bed was Steve. He was at the compound. He was safe. He was safe.

He looked back at his hands. They were no longer red, but his regular slightly tan skin tone.

He was Peter, that was James, he was at the Compound, and he was safe.

He was safe.

"So, Kid," Tony started, popping a few blueberries in his mouth. "Do you know what a service dog is?"

Peter looked away from the project he was working on with Tony and Bruce, "Yes. I know what a service dog is. Why?"

"Well, we asked Loki and he's willing to register and train Fenris as a service dog. Specially, your service dog," Tony answered.

"Oh," Peter but his lower lip. He was still on edge from the nightmare a couple nights before, and the thought of getting his own dog after what he did to the puppy when he was with HYDRA made him nauseous. "I… don't know. How does Fenris feel about it. Can't he… isn't he a bit more advanced than the dogs on Earth?"

Bruce smiles, "Don't worry. Loki went through it with Fenris. Neither of them mind. In fact, Fenris seemed pretty eager about the idea."

"Really?" Peter asked, slightly surprised. At the two other scientist's nods, Peter answered, "Okay I guess."

"It's completely your choice, Peter. No matter what you choose, nobody will be upset with you," Brice assured.

Peter thought about it for a few seconds, "Okay."

Tony raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"

Peter nodded, "I'm sure."

"Alright, we're here! On the busiest business day of the year. Amazing weather. Day on the boardwalk!" Tony announced. "What do you wanna Do first, Pete? Arcade? Beach? We have the whole day."

"I don't really know. I've never been to either before."

Natasha set a calm hand on his shoulder, "We'll put our stuff down at the beach and leave it with those who would like to stay there. Then we'll go to the arcade for a little bit before coming back. Does that sound good, Peter?"

Peter nodded, it was better than what he would have come up with. He had no idea what he was supposed to do in this environment. Fenris, in his smaller form, pressed his head against Peter's hand. Peter scratches his service dog behind the ear, and nodded again, "That sounds good to me."

"Alright then. Let's go! We have a whole day at the beach to live through!" Tony exclaimed.

Peter smiled, and followed the group towards the beach. Harry and Gwen would have loved this, but they also would have lived Peter living for them as well.

"Your turn to pick the movie, Peter," Sam said, dropping a bowl of popcorn on Peter's lap. They had all decided that going to a movie theatre in the city would have been a lot of input on Peter's senses, so a movie night in the tower had been the next best thing.

"I'm not sure… I haven't watched any of these ponies before," Peter replies awkwardly. Fenris huffed from behind him, and Peter threw on of the dog's snacks to his cushion. "What do you guys want to watch?"

James hummed as he thought about it, "I think you'll like Star Wars. It's sci-fi. There's a lot of movies, but we can watch the first few tonight."

"I sure hope you don't mean the prequels," Clint scoffed, "Because we are not putting Peter through that."

Peter's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "Are they that bad?"

"Not bad per se, just not as good," Sam chuckled. "We'll start off with A New Hope. That okay with you, Pete?"

Peter smiled and nodded as an answer. He shifted to a more comfortable position for both him and Fenris, and laid his eyes upon the screen. Dramatic music filled his ears, as he looked around the room. Natasha had her head laying on Clint's shoulder, and her feet hanging over the arms of the love seat. Vision and Wanda were snuggling underneath a thick blanket on one end of the couch, with Sam and Bruce on the other. Loki was sitting to Peter's left, Fenris' head on his lap while Peter was laying on the dog's body, and Thor took up one of the recliners. Steve and James were on the couch behind Peter to his left, while Tony and Pepper were on his right.

Peter smiles softly- feeling safe and content… happy and warm.

He breathed in.

He breathed out.

Blinked.

And relaxed.

Damn, y'all. We're really at the end of this fic. I'm glad that you guys have stuck through to the end, and I hope you enjoyed. Make sure you keep a look out for the next fic I'm posting! It'll be pretty soon by the looks of it.

Thank you guys, again, for sticking with me.

Until next time.