Chapter Thirty-Five

It would be so easy.

Peter was standing in the middle of Dr. Strange's entryway of his house (though Peter thought it looked more like a castle) waiting for the wizard. Peter had been surprised to receive a call from Strange in the first place. The older man had gruffly called unexpectedly wanting to see how Peter was personally and had invited him down for tea.

It felt weird that Strange was checking up on him. He had been standing there for twenty-two minutes waiting for the wizard. Wong had looked apologetic as he told him he would be out soon, but he was in the middle of an important call.

It would be so easy.

Peter thought about the statement again. He knew where Strange's office was. Thanks to his speed he could get there in two minutes and Strange and Wong were in the complete opposite end of the hallway.

It had been exactly one month since Peter had been released from HQ's custody and Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner's protective sight and one week since he had started meeting with Dr. Andrews. It had also been one month since he had touched one of the strong pills Dr. Strange had provided for him.

Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner had weaned him off the pain pills that had been messing up with his system for a month and had warned him Peter should not use them unless it was an extreme case otherwise there was a good chance Peter could become a drug addicted high school dropout.

It had been more than a month since Peter had taken a pill, but he craved them even though his body was fully healed, and Scott was dead. He craved the way his muscles relaxed when he took them, the way his body become numb, and the dreamless sleep.

Without thinking Peter found himself moving towards Dr. Strange's office, remembering how pissed the wizard had been the last time he had been there. One jar, he promised himself, just one jar for emergencies.

Once he stood in front of the room, he pulled the doors opened. Or tried to. They were locked. He let out a series of curse words underneath his breath, he pulled the doors opened slightly again, but then stopped. The last thing he needed was to be attacked my Stranger's weird magic cape. Again.

"It won't open. He made sure after the last time."

Peter flinched as he turned around and saw Wanda. Her brown hair was sprawled around her pale face. His cheeks grew red from embarrassment. Great, all he needed was for Wanda to go tattling to May or Tony and both of them would make sure he landed in rehab.

As if she could read his mind, she said. "Don't worry. I won't tell. Are you craving them, the pills?"

Peter opened up his mouth to lie, but then decided it was a waste of time. "Sometimes," he admitted. "I missed the way they made me feel. As I were asleep." He looked up at her. "You can do something about that can't you? Tony mentioned it once, years ago when you met for the first time, he said you entered his mind, controlled it somehow."

"I can," she said. "My powers have grown so much to the point I can erase every painful memory you've ever had. The type of memories that make you go back to these pills."

A flash of hope settled in Peter's chest before Wanda cruelly took it away. "But I won't. You need to face your fears, Peter. All of them. No matter how painful, not take the easy way out."

"Why?" he snapped.

Wanda looked at him with patience as she squeezed his hands. "Because that is the way you'll learn. Anytime you feel like this, like you're going to commit something stupid, or you have some craving, tell me. I'll be there before you even hung up the phone."

Peter gulped. "Thanks, Wanda."

"Now let's go before Strange finds us both here."


"Brake! Brake! That's Drive!"

"Oh, sorry. I've never done this before."

"Obviously, kid that's reverse. Just brake before you kill us both."

By some form of miracle Peter managed to do as he was told as he threw Happy a weary gaze. Mr. Stark's head of security had picked him up from Queens after Tony had invited him for an impromptu movie night.

When the genius had been held up with a conference call from China, Happy had offered to help Peter kill an hour, by finally teaching him how to drive instead of having him do Calculus homework. He hadn't expected Happy to teach him in a car that wasn't even available in the United States yet.

Peter's hand gripped the sweaty wheel once Happy removed the keys from the engine. "Sorry, I'll get it next time."

"Yeah, yeah maybe next time we should try it with a car from a year where you couldn't go above forty miles per hour."

Peter laughed a pink blush coating his cheeks. It finally felt like things were returning to normal. It had been odd seeing the older man tiptoe near him as he looked at him as if he were a pathetic injured deer. If Happy was making fun of him then it meant he was simply seeing him as Peter, not someone who needed to be protected.

"Hey, Happy what are you doing over the summer?"

"I'm not sure. Looking over past security breaches, tighten up the place."

Peter grimaced. "As much fun as that sounds how would you like to join me and May for a road trip this summer? We're not sure where we are going, maybe Pennsylvania, but it will be fun having someone else around."

Happy looked surprised. "Your aunt won't mind?"

"Nah, May thinks you're cool."

Happy blushed, which Peter found disturbing. "Cool? May thinks I'm cool?"

"Hey, what are you two knuckleheads doing in my car?" They turned around and saw Tony standing there with his hands on his hips. "I thought we were supposed to watch a movie."


"Why are we starting with number four?" Tony demanded as he shoved a handful of popcorn inside his mouth while Peter fluttered around Tony's movie size tv. "I haven't seen a single Star Wars movie, kid. I'm no expert, but shouldn't we start with number one?

Peter turned to him like an overexcited puppy. "A New Hope is the first one, Mr. Stark. I know it sounds weird, but just trust me on this."

Tony was about to tell him that, that didn't make any sense, but stopped himself. He didn't want to tease the kid tonight. It was nice seeing Peter like this. Relax, happy. Something he hadn't been in months thanks to Scott. Peter had gained back some of the weight he had lost and a lovely pink flush had returned to his cheeks.

Yes, everything was slowly returning back to normal even though Tony still wanted to strangle himself every time he thought about Scott. He leaned back and opened another bag of popcorn. "You're the boss, kid."

-End of Chapter Thirty-Five-