She smiled, and handed his bag to Sam so she could steal him from Clint.

"Because then I'd probably have to kiss you," she teased, pressing her lips against his cheek and blowing a raspberry that made him giggle and squirm – and almost fall out of her arms.

His grip was strong, though, and he allowed himself to hang upside down for a moment, before she up-righted him.

"We modified the room for you," Sam told him. "Clint helped – since he's the only one of us that knows diddly shi- stuff – about little kids. But since it's going to be your room, then it should be more comfortable than just a bed and a stand."

They had reached the door, and Clint opened it for them, and Peter's eyes grew wide.

"Wow."

When he'd been there, before, the room had been an austere white, with a bed, stand and a small dresser. Now the walls were freshly painted blue. The bed was the same one as before, presumably, but the bedspread was red, white, and blue with Captain America shields as the repeating pattern. It was also the color of the pillowcases. There was still a stand next to the bed, but now it had an Ironman lamp on it, and there was a small bookcase in the corner that held a bucket of Lego blocks, some toy cars and trucks and a few books.

"Do you like it?" Natasha asked, setting him on the bed.

"It's great," Peter assured her.

"Steve chose the bedding," Sam said, unnecessarily. "But we guessed on the rest of it."

"I like it."

"You like that," Sam said, smirking. "Wait until you see what else we did."

"The ball pit?" Peter asked.

"That and a bit more."

"Let's go see," Natasha said, looking pleased at his reaction.

They helped the boy get his coat off, since it wasn't cold in the compound at the moment, and then they walked – at Peter's pace – to the gym.

OOOOOOOOOO

The room was a large one, but now a corner by the bleachers was taken up by a large plastic mesh pen that was holding what had to be a million brightly colored balls. Peter ran over and looked at it, excited, and then looked up at the adults.

"What do I do?"

Clint rolled his eyes and picked the boy up. Then to Peter's surprise, he tossed him into the pit. The balls were soft and gave way, and he yelped in happiness at the treatment. Under all of the many layers of balls, there was a foam bottom that cushioned the hardwood floor under the pit. Peter righted himself, and looked over – just in time to get hit in the head with a ball that Clint lobbed at him. The boy giggled and threw one back, and only the fact that the archer had amazing reflexes kept him from getting hit right between the eyes.

"Nice throw, little man."

They watched as Peter waded through the balls, happily, sometimes ducking under them and 'swimming' through them, only to pop up elsewhere.

"Do you like it?" Natasha asked when she finally gestured for him to head back to them.

"It's neat." He smiled when Clint pulled him out – although there was also a ladder, he saw. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They looked over when Steve walked up, just then. The big man was dressed in a pair of jeans, thermal long-sleeved t-shirt that had the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and another shirt over it. He smiled when he greeted Peter.

"Hey, Pete. What did you think of your room?"

"I like it."

"You like the bedspread?"

Peter smiled.

"Yeah."

"Good. Make sure you tell Tony that, okay?"

"Okay."

"One more thing to show you," Steve told him, reaching over to pluck him from Barton's grasp. "But we have to go outside to see it."

"What is it?" Peter asked, curiously.

"You'll see."

They all walked with the two as Steve crossed the gym and headed for the double doors that led outside. Peter gasped when Rogers opened the door and carried him out, stopping at the edge of the field that it opened out onto.

"Wow…"

It was a playset. Made of wood, there was a fort on the top, with a slide, and a pole, and coming off from the side was a wooden beam that ended several yards away. The beam supported a couple of swings before it ended with two others that supported it, in turn. Peter saw a ladder that led to the slide and looked over at them.

"This is for me?"

"And us," Natasha said, clearly pleased at his reaction. "Sometimes it's fun to swing…"

They let him have a chance to play on the playset for a few minutes, but Barton pointed out that he didn't have his coat on, so they shouldn't be outside, too long.

Besides, it was lunch time.

OOOOOOOO

"Phone call for you."

Peter looked uncertain when Natasha handed him her phone only a few minutes after he'd finished eating lunch with her and the others. He took it, though.

"Hello?"

"Hey, buddy. How are you doing?"

The boy smiled when he recognized Tony's voice.

"Hi. Good. They have a ball pit, and a play set in the field, and I have a bedroom here, just like back at your apartment."

Tony's chuckle was amused; he was clearly pleased at how happy Peter sounded.

"It's our apartment," he reminded the boy. "Not just mine."

"Okay."

"You had lunch?"

"Yes."

"And now you're going to play outside?"

Peter nodded, even though Tony couldn't see it.

"On the play set. Steve built it."

"I helped," Sam added, rolling his eyes.

"Sam helped," Peter added, dutifully.

"I'm running a little behind, here, but I'll be there before too long," Tony told him. "Have fun, okay?"

"I will," Peter assured him. "I am."

"Good. Let me talk to Natasha, again."

The boy handed the phone back to Natasha, who winked at him as she took it.

"He had soup and crackers and a piece of cake," she said before Stark could ask. "And we'll make sure he's warmly bundled in his coat and mittens." There was silence as she listened to whatever the reply was, and then she nodded. "We'll see you, later."

She ended the call, and looked at Peter.

"Ready to go play?"

He smiled.

"Yeah."

OOOOOOOOO

"That's the damnedest thing…"

"Right…?" Natasha wasn't the only one to shake her head as they watched Peter hanging upside down from the bottom of the fort. Clint was standing next to him, hands just barely touching him – just in case – but it was clear that the child was in no danger of falling. He was literally sticking to the wooden surface – even with shoes and socks on. "He's amazing."

Steve nodded, even though he'd seen it before. He hadn't even realized that he'd cursed – although Sam and Natasha both did, of course.

"Did Tony figure out how he does it?" he asked, as Clint pulled the boy free, easily, and then tossed him up into the air, making Peter squeal, happily. "Blood tests, or labs, or something?"

"You think something in his blood is going to explain that?" Wilson asked.

"There has to be something."

"Tony's not going to experiment on Peter," Romanoff pointed out. "He's still a baby, practically."

"A baby spider," Sam said, shaking his head.

They'd all been out supervising Peter's initial foray onto the playset, and they'd all been there when he'd inevitably missed a monkey bar and had dangled by one arm, precariously. Or so they'd thought. Even as Steve had lunged to catch him, Peter had simply reached up and caught the bar, again, easily. And then he'd brought his foot up and had released the grip on his hands – causing Rogers and the others another mini heart-attack.

The boy had laughed, his face turning bright red from being upside down, and Steve had reached up and pulled him off, only to have Peter scramble back to the ladder to climb to the slide, again, completely unaware of the sensation he'd caused in his eagerness to play.

When he'd begun to wear down a bit, the adults did their own experiments with him, not even letting on what they were doing when they tested the stickiness that he possessed against every surface of the playset. Wood, plastic, and metal, they were all the same to Peter. He simply stuck to wherever they put him until one of them helped him move to get free.

Then he'd run off to play, again.

"I wonder if it'll increase as he gets older, or if he'll lose the ability as time goes by," Natasha said.

"It's an interesting ability," Steve said. "But if he can't free himself, then it's not one that will do him much good when he's older."

"It might just take some practice," Sam told them. "He's a little guy. He doesn't even know what he can do – much less how to do it."

"Plenty of-"

the conversation was cut short by a sudden streak of flames across the late afternoon sky, and Peter stopped what he was doing to look up – as did the others.

"Ah, Tony's here…" Natasha said, unnecessarily.

Sure enough, after giving them a chance to notice him – or maybe allowing the AI in his suit to mark where everyone was so he didn't land on someone – Tony's Ironman suit came to a landing in the snow covered grass near the playset, but far enough back to avoid scorching anything.

Or anyone.

"Tony!"

Peter thrilled at the superhero pose that the landing had left Tony in, but he jumped from the third rung of the ladder and ran over, stopping in front of the suit just as Tony straightened and retracted the metal to allow him to step out of it.

"Hey, buddy."

"Wow!"

Stark couldn't help but feel a little smug at the reaction.

"Liked that, did you?"

"It was great."

He stepped forward, hopefully, and Tony picked him up, making Peter shiver with happiness.

"I missed you," Tony told him, pressing his cheek against the boy's.

Peter beamed, feeling a different kind of thrill go through him at the words. It was heady stuff to be that important to someone else, after all.

"I missed you, too. Didja see the playset Steve and them built for me?"

"I did. It's pretty impressive, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

The other adults walked over, having allowed Stark his chance to have a somewhat private greeting.

"Nice entrance," Clint complimented.

"One does one's best."

"Are you done for the day?" Peter asked.

"I am. Are you guys done out here?"

Now that he was out of the Ironman suit, he was only wearing expensive suit that he'd worn at the tower that day. He didn't need to pack anything, since he had clothes in his quarters at the compound, but it was getting chilly, and he didn't want to hang out outside of he could avoid it.

"We were thinking that it's getting close to dinner time," Natasha said. She looked at Peter. "What do you think?"

He nodded.

"Yeah."