"Now be careful…"
"I am."
"You got it?"
"Yeah."
Steve frowned. He and the others were watching as Tony held Peter up against the flat surface of the wall.
"He's a little higher than he needs to be, don't you think?" Rogers asked.
"He isn't going to fall, Steve," Stark said. "He sticks."
"Well, yeah, he sticks now. But what about when he tries to move?"
They were at the compound in the gym, and they were there for a specific reason. They wanted to see if they could work with Peter – a little bit, anyway – to help him figure out how to unstick himself from a wall once he was stuck to it. And to maybe see if he could move himself up and down a surface once he was there.
Tony frowned, looking over his shoulder at the others and then plucked Peter off the wall where he'd stuck him, and moved him lower. Almost a foot lower. There was a mat under them, just in case, but why take any chances?
All of the Avengers looked intent as they watched the boy, who turned his head to look at them, his fingers and feet still holding him, easily, to the wall.
"Now what?" he asked.
"Move your right hand up a little," Sam suggested. "See if you can do it."
Peter did as he was told, and carefully – slowly – the hand went higher that the other. Only a few inches, but it was moved.
Stark moved a step closer, his hands coming up to hover just under the child's rear. Again, just in case.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Okay."
"Try the left hand, now, Pete," Steve said.
That hand moved, too.
"I did it."
They all smiled.
"Yes, you did," Tony agreed. He didn't move, though, and his arms never lowered. "Try to bring your foot up, now."
"Which one?"
"Whichever is most comfortabl-"
"The right one," Natasha said.
Better to be methodical and not let him choose, yet.
Peter did as he was told, and the foot moved – and then the other joined it without the boy being told. When that foot moved, Peter lurched up on the wall a couple of inches, and Tony automatically panicked and grabbed his little body to keep him from falling.
Peter giggled at the sensation since it tickled, and it made those watching smile. Stark rolled his eyes at his own overprotectiveness but even though he let him go, his hands were still poised to catch him. He was fine with experimenting, but not alright with Peter hurting himself in the process.
"Try it, again, buddy," he told him.
OOOOOOOOO
"Hold on…"
"I am."
"Steve?"
"Getting there."
The ladder was placed against the wall, close to where Peter was clinging, looking down at them all with his face pale, but not actually looking too afraid.
"Hang on, Peter," Natasha called as Rogers started up the ladder.
She couldn't hide the amusement in her voice, though.
"Something for him to work on, I suppose," Sam said, also amused.
The boy had managed to make his way up the wall – going a little further than Tony was comfortable with. Especially once he was out of arm's reach. But then, he hadn't been able to figure out how to get down, and had only managed to go even higher. Now he was near the ceiling, and had finally been forced to admit that he couldn't get down and might need some help.
Steve had immediately gone for a ladder.
"What's going on?" A new voice made some of them turn, and they saw Clint walking over, munching on an apple.
Natasha smirked, but turned to watch as Steve reached Peter and was plucking him off the wall, and then putting him on his back, the boy now holding onto his shoulders.
"We thought we'd see if we can help Peter learn how to climb up the wall."
"Oh." He smiled, figuring out what happened, immediately. "How's that working out?"
"He went up the wall just fine," Sam pointed out.
"Getting down is going to be the trick, apparently," Tony said, absently. He was still watching as Steve brought the boy down the ladder. "We can work on it."
The two had reached the bottom of the ladder, now, and Tony pulled Peter from Steve's back, checking the boy to make sure he wasn't injured – and wasn't freaking out.
"Maybe a wall in a smaller room to start with?" Steve suggested, wryly.
"Yeah." Tony smiled at Peter, holding him in one arm, and brushing his bangs back with the other. "You okay?"
The boy smiled.
"Yeah. Thanks, Steve."
"You're welcome."
"That's probably enough for today," Natasha said as Tony put the boy down once he'd reassured himself that he was alright. She smiled down at him. "You did great, though."
Peter hugged himself with happiness at the praise. And at the first real lesson that he had had with his powers. It hadn't gone off without any problem, of course, but it was a start.
"First time is always trickiest, right?"
"Right."
"But you don't practice this without someone being with you," Tony said. "And nowhere that other people can see you doing it. Got it?"
"Yes."
"JARVIS doesn't count as supervision on this, either," Tony added. "Because he can't reach out and help you off the wall, or catch you if you fall."
"Okay."
"We should celebrate," Romanoff said.
"The fact that he had to be rescued?" Sam asked, winking at Peter, who smiled back.
"The fact that he made progress. A step forward, and all that."
Technically, it was a step up. But same principal.
"We'll buy you guys lunch," Tony said, also feeling pleased. "But then we're going back to the city. We have a little bit of work to finish on the new place before we move in this weekend."
"School starts Monday?" Steve asked.
"It does," Tony confirmed. "Peter Stark will be arriving at school for the first time."
Clint looked at Natasha.
"And we're sure the place is ready?"
"It's ready," she confirmed. "Security is in place, and protocols are set up." The spy smiled down at the boy. "He even has a code name, don't you?"
Peter's eyes were excited.
"Yes." He grinned at Romanoff before looking at Clint. "I'm Mini-Me."
The archer snorted.
"That's perfect."
OOOOOOO
Much later, after lunch and then the subsequent drive back to the city – and the new house – Peter and Tony were standing beside each other with an open panel in the wall. The boy was on a stepstool and was holding a flashlight, while Tony made the last tweaks to the wiring that they would need. Not to integrate JARVIS, but to make sure he had access to all of the security and the house systems.
Tony didn't want to have to turn on his own lights if he could avoid it, after all.
"I think that's going to do it," he said, closing the panel and taking a step back. "Let's give it a try."
Peter hopped off of the stool.
"Okay."
"JARVIS?"
"Active."
"Home systems?"
"Running diagnostics, now."
"ETA?"
"If you wired everything right? Ten minutes. If I have to reroute? Undetermined."
Stark rolled his eyes, looking down at Peter.
"I don't know why I put up with that cheek."
The boy smiled.
"Because you love him?"
The fact that JARVIS wasn't a living person didn't matter to Peter, Tony knew. JARVIS had been there for him when no one else had – even before he had Tony, or any of the avengers to go to for comfort or conversation. Tony realized that JARVIS had been there for him, too, ever since the day he'd been brought online, and the AI had been there for him when he had no one else, too. He smiled.
"Exactly."
"Can I look around while we wait?"
"Stay in the house."
"Okay."
The boy headed for the room that was going to be his bedroom, while Tony went to the kitchen. He liked the layout, and the breakfast bar/island that was so similar to the one in his apartment.
"Are you going to get him a pet?" JARVIS asked, obviously able to multitask.
"I wasn't planning on it," the billionaire replied. "Did he mention wanting one?"
JARVIS was still the one Peter chatted with most in the middle of the night, Tony knew. Not because Peter had secrets from him, but because he didn't want to keep Tony awake just because he was restless, or had had a bad dream.
"No. He specifically mentioned not wanting one, so I thought you should know."
Stark felt just a little bit of a relief at that. A kid was taking getting used to – although he was absolutely loving being dad and mentor rolled into one. Getting a dog, or something else? Ugh.
"Thank you."
"Your wiring is perfect," the AI replied. "I'll be completely immersed in three more minutes."
"Good."
He went to find Peter.
Sure enough the boy was in his room. He was looking out the window when Tony walked in.
"Are you trying to decide if you can jump into the swimming pool from here?" Tony asked, smiling. "You can't, I assure you."
Peter turned.
"It's neat."
"The pool?"
"All of it. It's hard to take in, sometimes."
"I can understand that. But you're happy?"
The smile was proof of it, but Peter nodded.
"Yes. Very happy. And lucky."
Tony picked him up. He couldn't help himself, really, and didn't have any reason to try. Luckily for him, Peter loved to be held as much as he liked holding him. He didn't know when the boy would get over that phase, but he was going to take advantage of it as long as he could.
"I'm lucky, too. You're a great guy to have around."
Peter shivered with happiness, but couldn't hug himself like he might have, normally.
"Thank you."
"JARVIS says the wiring is perfect, so we can head back in a little while. We'll stop and pick up something for dinner, and then watch a movie, or something."
"Okay."
Stark looked around the room, empty as it was.
"Is there anything you want to have in here that you don't have in your other room?" he asked.
He and Peter had already discussed the plan for moving – which was stand out of the way and let a moving company handle it all, but he had his own plans for Peter's room – he just wasn't ready to mention it, yet.
"A poster?" the boy asked, hopefully.
"We can do that. Of what?"
"Batman."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"We'll see."