"And you're sure you're okay?" Pepper asked as she set her briefcase on the ground before looking back at the nineteen year old, "watching Morgan? Cause I can call Bruce or Rhodey-"
"It's okay, Pepper," Peter insisted as he grabbed Morgan as she was running, resulting in a roaring laugh from the seven year old, "we're gonna have loads of fun with all of Morgan's Christmas presents."
Pepper swallowed as she bent down to hug her daughter tightly, knowing that despite the protests from the little girl, that she wasn't squeezing her too tight; as soon as she let go of her and stood up, she was running up the wooden stairs, giving her the chance to look at Peter who still had his reassuring grin on his face.
"Okay, bedtime is 8:30, you should start getting her to wind down at 7:30. My cell phone will be on me at all times, do not hesitate to call. If there's a Spider-Man related emergency, please call someone to watch Morgan before you leave. You can use this," she paused to pull her emergency credit card from her purse and pressed it into Peter's palm, "if you need any money."
"I've got it, Pepper," Peter insisted as he reached over to hug her, "but we'll be careful. I swear."
Pepper nodded as she held him close to her chest with her hand against his head before pulling away, "okay. I love you. Both of you."
"Love you too," Peter smiled before turning and calling out towards the stairs, "hey, Morg! Your mom's leaving for real this time!"
"It's only for four days," Pepper insisted as Morgan ran back down the stairs and she crouched back down to hug her, "be good for Peter, okay? Neither of you have school so he doesn't get any breaks."
"He doesn't need a break from me, Mama," she insisted before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, which Pepper knew was her signal to let Morgan go before she started whining, "love you."
"Love you, baby." Pepper smiled as she stood back up and opened the door with her stuff in her hands and turning on the car; she opened the car door and put her purse and briefcase in the back before closing the door and turning back to the house, offering a brief wave to them before getting in the driver's seat and finally taking a breath.
'It's only for four days. They can handle themselves for four days.'
•••
"I brought vodka!" Yelena's voice rang out as the door opened, resulting in both Morgan and Peter turning their heads towards the voice, "and groceries."
"We can't drink, Yelena," Peter insisted as he got up from the couch before taking the bags from her, "stay here and watch your show, Morg," he told her before walking to the kitchen with the older woman behind him, "I called you because I'm gonna go stir crazy otherwise."
"You can drink, you're nineteen," Yelena shrugged him off as he started to put things in the fridge, "and I thought you liked the kid."
"No, I can't. The legal drinking age in the states is twenty-one."
"That's stupid." Yelena snorted as she started pulling the bananas out of the bag and setting them in the empty fruit bowl.
"And as for Morgan, I do like her," Peter continued as he shut the fridge and opened the freezer, "I really like her, she's great. But, I haven't seen my friends or my girlfriend in months cause we all ended up at different colleges and they're all with their families for break. My aunt and her new husband are on vacation right now, so I was gonna spend time with Morgan and Pepper, but she had an emergency at work."
Yelena sighed as she put the avocados on the table before turning to Peter, "your friends and girlfriend are in New York for break?"
"Yeah, why?" Peter asked as he shut the freezer before folding up the empty bags.
"I'll watch the kid," Yelena decided. After all, she had handled the Red Room, surely she could handle a seven year old, "you go see your friends, or your girlfriend. Even just go Spider-Boying."
"Okay, one," Peter sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "her name is Morgan. Two, I only called you here for help-"
"I am helping! I'm offering to watch Morgan for as long as you need me too!" Yelena shouted, wincing as soon as she heard the rushing footsteps and watching as the child ran over to tightly hug Peter.
"I came to save you." She insisted as Peter lifted her into his arms so her arms were wrapped around his neck and her head was tucked against his shoulder.
"Good job, I'm saved," He insisted before turning back to Yelena and mouthing, 'try and get along with her first. I don't want her to cry the whole time.'
Yelena nodded before gently tapping the girl on the shoulder, gaining her attention, "hey, Morgan. My name is Yelena Belova. I'm a friend of Peter's."
"Why are you yelling at him?" She asked just above a whisper, "my friends at school don't yell at me."
"Because," Yelena stopped for a moment to take a step closer towards Peter and Morgan, "we didn't meet at school. I'm actually a bit older than him. We met on a mission, and so we fight sometimes. But, what's important is that at the end of the day, we get along well. Does that make sense?"
Morgan nodded in response before adding, "that's what my dad used to say about Aunt Nat. That they fought, but could still get along."
Yelena winced internally at the mention of her late sister before shaking the thought away and turning to Morgan, "what do you say we go play for a bit?" She asked, holding her hand out to the little girl as Peter set her on the ground.
"Okay." Morgan smiled before taking Yelena's hand and led her towards the stairs. Yelena took the brief moment she had to turn her head back to Peter and mouth one word. 'Go.'
•••
Peter couldn't stop himself from cheering as he swung through the city, feeling free for the first time in months as he did.
He knew in the back of his mind that he probably shouldn't have gone all the way to Queens, but he couldn't stop himself before he had already gotten there.
"Hey, Spider-Man!" A young voice called out, and he waved in the direction of it, hearing the kid squeal as he did so and was unable to keep himself from smiling.
Ever since his name had been cleared and the world accepted him again, his favorite part was the happiness that came from kids who saw him in public, whether they shouted from far away or approached him after he stopped a bad guy to ask him something as simple as his favorite color.
He finally stopped at Delmar's and pulled his hood off before walking in, cash in hand along with a pack of gummy worms that he put on the counter.
"Hey, Mr. Delmar!" He called out before reaching over and petting Murph's head.
"Hey, Peter. Your usual?" Delmar offered him a smile as he spoke while ringing up the candy.
"Yep."
Delmar nodded and spoke to the person in the back before returning to the counter and bagging the candy, "how's college going?"
"It's going well, I've missed Queens a lot though." He explained as he was handed the bag with his candy.
"Well, I speak for Queens when I say that we've missed you and Spider-Man," Delmar explained before handing him the second bag, "see you around, kid."
"Bye!" Peter called out as he left the store and swung upwards onto a street light to eat his sandwich and send MJ a text.
Peter: hey, im in town do you wanna meet up?
The reply didn't come in until he was three bites in.
MJ: only if you don't take me swinging. You know how much I hate that. And you better not be swinging right now.
Peter couldn't stop from chuckling as he typed out a reply.
Peter: im sitting down and eating a sandwich. im gonna come get you in about 20 minutes.
She didn't reply again till he finished the sandwich and moved on to the gummy worms.
MJ: awesome. See you then.
Peter couldn't hold back a grin as he put his phone away and finished his gummy worms. He made sure to drop the bags in a trashcan before starting the fifteen minute swing to MJ's apartment, smiling the entire time.
As soon as he arrived on her balcony, he tore his hood off, ran a hand through his hair and checked his breath before knocking on the doors. 'Here goes nothing.'
He couldn't stop from smiling when she opened the door, her hair in a ponytail and wearing a smock covered in paint splatters.
"You look gorgeous." He insisted as he walked inside, letting her close the door before walking over to him and pressing her hands to his cheeks.
"Just shut up and kiss me."
Peter didn't even want to argue with her, and pressed his lips against hers passionately instead, feeling her hands wrap tightly around his spandex clad body.
•••
"You're being mean to my Barbies." Morgan complained as she looked up at Yelena from her spot on the floor
"No, I'm not," she insisted as she put down the doll that was dressed in a ballerina outfit, "I'm being realistic. Ballerinas retire young so they don't get hurt, especially professional ballerinas."
"But Barbies are different," Morgan fought back as she put down the doll she was holding, "Barbies can dance forever and ever and ever and-"
"Okay, I get your point," Yelena sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache starting to form and seriously regretting telling Peter to run off seven hours ago, "tell you what, how about you go watch a movie downstairs while I start on dinner?"
"When's Peter getting back? He's nice to my Barbies." Morgan questioned as she stood up and followed Yelena downstairs, one of her dolls still clutched in her hand.
"I don't know, Morgan," Yelena responded as Morgan reached the couch and grabbed the remote, "let me know if you need anything?"
Yelena waited until the young girl nodded before walking in the kitchen, swallowing an ibuprofen before pulling the tomatoes out of the fridge and mumbling under her breath, "where are you, Peter?"
She made pasta sauce and garlic bread from scratch, as well as cooking a box of spaghetti noodles and chopping up some salad for over an hour, with still no sign of Peter.
She considered calling him for a moment, but she decided against it. After all, she had been the one to tell him to hang out with his friends, she didn't want to worry him.
"Hey, Morgan! Dinner's ready!"
Dinner went smoothly and Morgan even helped Yelena clean up the dishes before going to get ready for bed. But she was still worried about the lack of Peter.
She pulled out her phone to go to call him when there was a loud crash followed by Morgan running down the stairs, sending fear into Yelena's heart.
"Stay here," Yelena told her before going up the stairs, making sure she was out of Morgan's sight before grabbing tightly onto her knife and slowly approached the closed door.
However, when she kicked the door open, she couldn't stop herself from swearing loudly at the collapsed superhero on the floor, blood the color of his suit leaking onto the floor under him.
She continued to swear in Russian as she threw the knife to the ground and pressed down at the wound located on his left side, resulting in a groan of pain.
"You better have a good explanation for this," she mumbled under her breath in English before shouting out, "Morgan!" She stopped before putting Peter's phone in the hallway and shutting the door before she could come in.
"Yelena?" The timid voice asked, definitely in tears. Yelena couldn't focus on that though, and continued to press harder on the wound.
"I need you to open Peter's phone and call for help," she tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, "do you understand?"
"O-okay." Morgan's voice called back, followed by the sound of small fingers pressing against the screen.
•••
"And that, Wong, would be what one calls bingo." Stephen Strange announced before sipping his coffee, watching as his friend scowled.
"You're a cheater, you know. You're the one who runs the bingo balls." Wong insisted as he stood to refill his drink.
"Yeah, sure." Stephen rolled his eyes as he set up another game.
"You know, this is why I go to Macau," Wong continued from the kitchen as the phone rang, which Stephen got up from his chair to get, "they aren't cheaters."
"It's a super powered underground fight club! They don't cheat because there are no rules!" He called back before pressing the phone to his ear, "New York Sanctum, this is Stephen speaking."
"A-are you Doctor Strange?" A soft, teary voice asked while stuttering, immediately shifting his mood. The next words put him on high alert, "I'm Morgan Stark, m-my dad was Iron Man."
"I know who your father was, sweetheart," Stephan tried to sooth the child like he would when he had a young patient years ago, "what's going on?"
"Peter got hurt, I think. And my babysitter, Yelena, told me to call a doctor. Are you a doctor?" The voice pleaded, both worrying Strange and making his heart melt.
"Yes, I am. I'll be right there, Morgan," He told her before hanging up and opening a portal to the cabin in the woods Peter had mentioned, "Wong, I need to attend to an emergency."
Wong waved him off, sending him on his way to the isolated cabin.
He used the portal to step into the upstairs hallway, resulting in the young girl dropping the phone out of shock, "where's Peter, sweetheart?" He asked, trying to keep her calm.
Instead of words, however, he just got a point towards a closed door. "Okay, I want you to go to your bedroom and wait for Yelena."
"A-and you'll help Peter?"
Stephen nodded, trying to keep any images of Peter being bloodied and injured out of his mind until he saw the real thing and knew what he was dealing with. "Yes, I will. I promise."
That was enough to convince the young girl to go to her room, and he waited for a few moments before opening the door.
"Morgan, don't come in here!" A voice attached to a Russian accent hit his ears before he saw exactly what was happening.
The woman's outfit was splattered in red, as well as her hands and right in the center was Peter gasping for breath on the floor, the upper half of his suit and his mask removed, his eyes glazed over, and his skin nearly white.
"Go get cleaned up," Stephen ordered, sending the woman to her feet as he knelt down beside Peter's side, "and keep Morgan calm. Now."
Yelena didn't argue as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Stephen took a breath and used his magic to steady his hands before beginning to clean the gaping wound and trying to remove himself from the situation as much as possible.
But as he heard the seven year old burst into tears, followed by loud shushing from the young woman and continued to work on the nineteen year old boy, all he could do was sigh to himself. 'This is why I never had kids.'
•••
When Peter regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was how dry his mouth was. Not the throbbing in his left side where he had been stabbed after leaving MJ's, not the fact that Doctor Strange was still tending to him when he managed to open his eyes, but the fact that his mouth was dry.
"Hey," Peter managed to croak, gaining the man's attention, "is it bad?"
"What the heck happened to you, Peter?" Strange asked, making Peter swallow at the sound of the anger. It had been awhile since he had been scolded by an adult and he had fallen out of practice with it.
He did get some water before he had to respond though, courtesy of a glass being tipped against his lips.
"Well, I was coming back from MJ's, cause Yelena told me to take some time for myself and I haven't seen her in person since this summer, and I planned to come straight to the cabin, but then there was this group of girls who were being harassed by two guys. They were obviously in trouble, so I decided to be a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man."
"And one of the guys hurt you?" Strange finished with an annoyed look on his face, signalling that Peter had been rambling.
"Well, yes, but in my defense, I didn't see that he had a knife!"
Strange pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something that Peter couldn't make out before turning back to him. "You, sleep. When Pepper gets back, she doesn't need to know about the danger you potentially put Morgan in, meaning you need to be healed."
"But-" Peter started, wanting to explain that Yelena had been the one who told him to leave, but he was cut off by Strange calling out in his direction.
"I said sleep!"
Peter didn't argue any more after that and took a few generous gulps of water instead.
•••
Luckily, for everyone's sake, the stab wound healed rather quickly thanks to Peter getting a lot of sleep as Yelena and Strange took care of Morgan and scrubbed the blood stain out of the floor.
Before he knew it, Strange had left the cabin the day before Pepper's return, and Yelena left just a few hours before.
"Now, Morgan. What are we not telling your mom?" Peter asked as Pepper's car pulled into the driveway.
"That Yelena or Doctor Strange were here and that you got hurt." Morgan repeated with annoyance, given that Peter had drilled that into her as soon as she saw him for the first time after he had gotten hurt.
Before Peter could nod, Pepper opened the door resulting in plenty of hugs between the trio and questions about how things went that Morgan answered perfectly.
But just before Peter could take a sigh of relief once Pepper disappeared into the kitchen, that's when he heard the angry shout.
"Peter Benjamin Parker, who's vodka is this?!"