"Colonel Rhodes is at the door."
"Let him in."
Tony was way too comfortable to be bothered to get up to open the door, and luckily, with JARVIS running the household, he didn't have to. The billionaire was sitting on the end of the sofa, leaning against the cushiony armrest, and Peter – still wrapped in a cocoon of a blanket – was sprawled bonelessly on him, draped over his lap in a position that would have had Stark going to the chiropractor, but seemed perfectly comfortable to the little boy.
Both looked up when Rhodey walked in, carrying a couple of bags. The other man smiled at the domestic scene in front of him.
"Hey Cheese Pizza," he greeted Peter. "I heard you were living here, now. How's it going?"
Peter's smile was answer enough, but the boy twisted so he was sitting up, his hands on the back of the couch and looking at Rhodes.
"I have my own room."
"Yeah? Did Tony buy you a puppy, yet?"
Rhodes smirked at the look of horror on his friend's face, but luckily, Peter shook his head.
"I don't want a puppy. He bought me poptarts, though – and we got a toaster."
"Oooo," Rhodes forced himself to sound impressed. "That's important."
"Yeah. And I have my own chair to sit in – and a lot of toys. And Legos."
Rhodes looked almost as cheerful as Peter did.
"That's great, buddy. I'm glad he's taking good care of you."
Peter nodded, and stood up, allowing the blanket to fall as he scrambled over the back of the couch to join Rhodes.
"We watched a movie, last night."
"What did you have for dinner?"
"McDonald's."
The other man glanced over at Stark.
"I thought you made a resolution to start cooking…?"
"It was late by the time we were finished shopping for thanksgiving dinner," Tony told him. "But starting today, we're eating a little healthier."
"Good."
"What did you bring?" Peter asked, curiously.
"I was told to bring salad stuff. No one said what kind, so I brought lettuce and all of that, but I brought potato salad, and macaroni salad, and fruit salad."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"We're not going to be able to eat all of that."
"Sure we are. Peter will help, right?"
The boy nodded, following Rhodes into the kitchen, and climbing up on his chair, and then onto the island to get a better view as Rhodey went to the fridge.
"Yeah. I like all of those."
"See?"
The look Rhodes gave Stark was smug, and Tony rolled his eyes, but frowned when Peter reached for the container of potato salad, and then accidentally allowed it to slip out of his hands.
"Hey, be-"
Before he could even finish the sentence, the potato salad went over the edge of the island, and Peter lunged for it, and vanished over the side of the island, as well.
"Peter!"
Rhodey reached for the boy, but his hands were full, and there was a cry of surprise and a breathless gasp. Rhodes made a shocked noise, too, and stared, and Tony rushed up to the other side of the island, visions of blood, stitches, head wounds and a trip to the ER already racing through his mind in the seconds it took him to get there. Then he stared, too.
"What the hell?"
"Tony! Help!"
Peter was frozen. He wasn't on the kitchen floor, though, and he wasn't on the island. For all intents and purposes, the little boy seemed to be stuck to the side of the island, suspended halfway between the floor and the top, his head about a foot from the hard floor, and his feet just below the counter top of the island.
"How-"
"Grab him, Rhodey," Tony said, reaching around his friend to hold Peter in place and keep him from falling – although he wasn't even supporting him, he knew immediately.
Rhodes reached for Peter, too, and the two men pulled the scared boy from the side of the island and up righted him, setting him on the island – ironically enough – to make sure he hadn't hurt himself.
"How did you do that?" Rhodes asked, even as Tony was running careful fingers over Peter's curls, looking for blood.
Peter's face was red from being upside down, and his expression was scared, but he didn't seem to be injured.
"Are you hurt?"
"No." Peter's eyes were wide. "I didn't fall. I mean, I did, but I didn't land."
"I saw…" Tony felt a surge of relief. "Don't ever do that again. You scared the liver out of me."
"You stuck to the side," Rhodey said, still amazed. He took Peter's hand, looking at his fingers and running his own along it. "How did you do that?"
"I don't know," Peter answered. He looked at the two men. "It just happened."
"You're not hurt?" Tony repeated.
"No. I don't think so." He looked down at himself. "Am I bleeding?"
"No." Thank God. "JARVIS? How did Peter keep from hitting the floor?"
"Unknown."
"Do you have video?"
"Not with the proper angle. Perhaps an experiment might be in order."
Tony scowled.
"We're not going to try that, again."
There was a slight hesitation.
"I meant a controlled experiment," the AI clarified. "Hold him against the wall and see if he sticks."
"That's insane," Stark muttered, even as Rhodes picked Peter up and walked over to one of the bare kitchen walls. "He's not going to just stick to-"
Rhodes held Peter against the wall, and then carefully let him go, holding his hands out – just in case. The precaution wasn't necessary, though, because Peter stayed where he was, looking around in shock, and a little fear.
"Get me down… please!"
"Easy, Cheese Pizza," Rhodey said, plucking him from the wall and then holding him close, since he could feel Peter trembling. "I've got you." He looked at Tony with an awed expression. "Did you know your guy here could stick to walls?"
Tony walked over and reached for Peter, taking the boy from his friend, and hugging him close as he shuddered in reaction. People didn't just stick to walls. Everyone knew that.
"No." From the looks of it, though, Peter hadn't known, either. "You're okay, buddy. I've got you."
"I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for," Tony assured him. "Did you know you could do that?"
"No." Peter buried his face into Tony's neck. "I don't know what happened."
"You stuck to the wall," Rhodes told him, rubbing his back, reassuringly. "Like a fly, or a spider, or something. It was amazing."
"Yeah, it was…" Tony said. He ran his fingers through Peter's curls. "Hey? You're okay. No blood? No pieces from the inside trying to come out?"
"No. I'm not hurt."
"Then it's alright."
He knew about Peter's strength, and knew that he healed quickly, but this was something much more incredible, and technically, he wasn't supposed to know about the others. He tried to think of a way to address it that would get Peter to talk about it and not give away that Tony had been snooping into the security cameras at the compound. Before he could, however, Rhodes spoke up.
"How did you do that?" he asked the boy. "You're not an alien, are you?"
Peter shook his head, pulling his face away from Tony's neck to look at the other man.
"No. I mean, I don't think so." He hesitated, turning to look into Tony's worried and wondered gaze. "I… it might be because of the thing that happened…"
Yes. Stark felt a surge of relief. If Peter was willing to mention it, then maybe he was ready to share. And that meant that maybe they'd reconciled his stupid tirade back at the compound when he'd found out that Peter knew JARVIS.
"What thing?" he asked, forcing his expression to be calm, and curious.
"It was in a lab," Peter said. "On a field trip. It's kind of a long story – sort of."
"Let's get comfortable, then," Rhodes told them, already heading for the sofa.
Tony looked at Peter.
"Okay?"
Meaning, was he ready to tell him?
The boy nodded.
"Okay."