It's time for another chapter! I hope I did okay with this one, because it took me a long time to think up. Again, I would appreciate reviews :-)
It wasn't until almost 11 am the next morning that Peter finally woke up. Tony was still there, sleeping restlessly on the chair next to him when Bruce got the alert that Peter was awake. Although the scientist didn't want to wake Tony up, he had promised to bring him right over if they had any updates. And this was a big update.
"Good morning, sleepyheads." Said Bruce as he grabbed Peter's medication. Tony grumbled and rubbed his tired eyes. "Mornin' Bruce."
Bruce smiled and handed some pills and a glass of water to Peter, who took the drink gratefully. "Well, I have good news." Bruce clasped his hands together. "Your memory is 89% functioning! You should remember everything in the next couple of days."
"That's great!" Tony beamed. He was so excited for things to finally get back to normal. Well, as normal as life could be when you live with superheroes. Peter, however, wasn't so ecstatic. He tried to smile, but his face kept falling and he avoided eye contact. Luckily, Tony noticed that something was wrong. "What's wrong, bud?"
Peter fiddled with his blankets and muttered something that Tony couldn't hear. "What was that?" Tony asked again.
This time, Peter spoke up just enough for the billionaire to comprehend his words. "I don't want to."
"You don't want to remember?" Tony asked, sitting on the foot of the bed. Peter nodded tearfully. "I don't want to remember everything that happened while I was there. I chose to forget because I didn't want to live with it anymore."
Tony sighed. "Oh, bud. I'm so sorry. It's not fair what happened to you. You deserve so much more. But I know for a fact that this will make you stronger. It already has. And although it will be hard, we will help you every step of the way. Okay?"
Peter smiled softly. "Okay."
"That's my boy." Tony ruffled Peter's hair and stood up in Bruce's direction. "Thank you."
"I do what I can." Bruce shook Tony's hand and left the room. Tony sat down again and quickly sent a text to Pepper before asking Peter about his night.
Got an idea. Meet in the lab at 1
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Peter woke up from his nap with an unfamiliar sight. No Tony, No Bruce, no one. He tried to control his fear that they had left him again as he got out of bed and searched the compound.
No Avengers in the common room or the kitchen. Steve and Bucky weren't sparring in the gym. Wanda and Clint weren't watching a movie, and Bruce wasn't in the medbay. The building seemed completely abandoned. As Peter was about to give up hope, he remembered that there was another floor that he used to go to with Tony. Putting on a brave face, he stepped into the elevator and headed for the lab.
As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he knew that something was off. The lights were off, and FRIDAY wasn't responding. "Hello?" The boy asked nervously. Suddenly, the lights flipped on and the Avengers popped up from their hiding places. "Surprise!"
There was a banner that had a picture of spiderman on it, and there were spider themed utensils. The balloons were red and black, and everyone was wearing a spiderman t-shirt. Tony stepped forward from the group. "It's a party! This took me a long time to web together. Get it? I made a pun!"
Peter laughed and looked around the room. "You did all of this for me?"
"Of course we did. We couldn't celebrate the return of Spiderman without a party!" Bucky stepped forward and put a party hat on Peter's shaggy head. Wanda then ran up and pulled Peter into the crowd.
The party was awesome. Tony had even attempted to make a cake (it almost burn the compound down) but he had tried. When everything was in full swing, Tony pulled Peter aside.
"How's it going?" IronMan asked.
"It's been really fun! It's nice to get away from it all."
Tony nodded. "I agree. It's always a good idea to revisit memories. Which is why I wanted to give you this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of red metal. When Peter expressed his confusion, Tony explained, "It's a piece of Cap's shield. You know, the one you stole in Germany?"
Peter's eyes widened as he took the piece of vibranium. "This is amazing! Is Steve okay with this?"
"It was actually his idea. Don't worry, I made him a new one a long time ago."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark!"
Tony pulled the boy into a hug. "You're welcome, kid." After a moment of silence, Peter whispered something into the man's chest. "Peter."
"What was that?" Tony asked.
Peter pulled away from the hug and looked Tony in the eye. "You can call me Peter."
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The party was starting to wind down, and everyone was preparing to leave when FRIDAY announced that a couple of other people had arrived at the tower last minute. Tony knew who it was, and tried to hide his excitement when the guests had stepped out of the elevator.
When Peter saw who it was, he gasped and sprinted over from where he was talking to Rhodey. He and his best friends met each other with open arms.
"Oh my gosh! It's really you." MJ cried as she hugged her friend like it was the last thing keeping her alive. "I can't believe this is happening." Ned agreed as he searched Peter's face for any sign of a hologram or a robot. Peter was crying too, for it had been a year since he had seen his best friends.
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Ned and MJ were studying for the history exam when a notification popped up on Ned's phone. "Woah!" Ned exclaimed as he read it. "The Avengers are fighting some bad guys who raided their base!"
MJ smirked. "I was wondering why Peter wasn't here yet."
Ned continued reading the article. "There have been reports of Captain America, Falcon, War machine, and Spiderman at the scene, along with other heroes."
The two continued to follow the report until the superheroes came on the air for an interview after the incident.
"So, what happened out there?" The reporter asked.
"To put it simply, a group of HYDRA agents found a way to sneak past our security gates. We were able to compromise them before they got any important information." Steve said into the microphone.
"That's good to hear. Now, let's talk about your teammates. What is the latest news on Iron Man?"
"He will be making a full recovery in the next couple of weeks. We still haven't cleared him for hero work yet, but he's really persistent. Doctor Banner and Spiderman keep him in bed."
"Say, where is Spiderman? Last we saw, he was fighting with you."
Steve paused and looked at the others. Since no one really knew what to say, Rhodey stepped forward.
"While we aren't giving out many details, what we will tell you is that Spiderman has not been located since the battle."
"Are you saying he's missing?"
"We're not saying that. However, we would like everyone to be on the lookout for him."
The station cut to commercial and the teens looked at each other in shock.
"Where's Peter?" They asked in unison.
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The trio sat together and talked for hours. MJ and Ned has countless stories about Academic Decathlon and Flash being a jerk, and Peter listened. It felt good to listen.
It wasn't until 10:30 that night that Tony finally came up and made them go to bed. Ned and MJ took the guest rooms, and Peter got settled in his own bed. Before he drifted off, Tony came in and sat aside him.
"How'd it feel to see your friends again?" IronMan asked.
"I can't believe it's been so long since i've seen them! How long have you been planning this?"
"Since yesterday. I knew that you would want to see them, and they would want to see you."
"Well, it was great! Thank you."
"You're welcome, Pete." Tony smiled. He pondered about what he should say for a moment. "You know," he started. "I don't know what you went through. But I do know that it was hard. To be honest, I'm surprised that you're still alive. But I'm also not, because I know that you're strong. Really strong. And not just physically, but mentally. And because you are strong mentally, I feel comfortable telling you that it's going to be difficult to get things back to the way they were. But we are going to do it together. How does that sound, Pete? Pete?"
He looked down at his kid, only to find that he was sleeping soundly. Tony smiled and pulled the sheets tighter around the boy's form. "Goodnight, Pete."