While Tony and Natasha (and Pepper) all had first-hand proof that Peter was almost guaranteed to fall asleep on a long car ride, the little boy was too excited to fall asleep on the way to the compound. Talking to her on the phone wasn't the same as seeing her in person, and he'd missed her. He chatted, happily, with Natasha, telling her about the cabin in the woods, and the frozen lake, and then about both doctor appointments that he'd had earlier that week.

For her part, she listened with interest, making the right noises at the right time and asking questions to prove that she was paying attention. When Peter asked her what she'd been doing, however, she'd simply grown secretive and smiled.

"Secret Avenger things. I can't tell you."

"Or you'll have to kill me?" Peter asked, grinning over at her and clearly not too concerned that he was going to meet his demise from asking her questions.

"That's only in movies," she assured him. "We don't really do that."

Usually.

"Oh."

She was adroit at changing the subject – he was easy to manipulate that way, even though she didn't like that word associated to her relationship with the little boy. He was just a little guy, after all, and so excited, and excitable. She asked about what he and Tony had been up to, and what story they'd been reading at bedtime, and Peter was more than willing to allow the conversation to go whatever direction she steered it. He didn't even realize that she was doing it.

Which was the whole point, of course.

They pulled up to the compound main entrance, and Peter made an excited noise when he saw that Sam was sitting out on a bench, bundled in a warm jacket, but obviously waiting for them. The man pulled Peter from the car as soon as Natasha stopped it and turned the engine off, and he hugged him, cheerfully.

"Hey, Peter! What have you been up to, pal?"

"We went to the boonies and I had s'mores and threw up on Tony."

Since it was the last thing that he and Natasha had been discussing on their way in, it was the first thing that the boy thought of when the question was asked.

Sam smiled, and set him down, tousling his hair, even as he put the hood of the coat Peter was wearing up to ward off any chill.

"We're not having s'mores, then."

"What are we having?" Peter asked, taking his bag so that Natasha could carry in her flowers, candy, and card.

"We're going to have tacos," Sam said, taking the flowers from Romanoff and opening the box. "Who gave you these?"

"My valentine," she replied, smiling at the boy. "If you're nice to me, I'll share my candy."

"You got her candy?"

Peter nodded as they walked to the door.

"Yeah. Me and Tony had some, too. It's good," he added, helpfully.

"You didn't bring me any candy?"

"I brought the other box," Peter said, holding up the bag he was carrying. "There's some to share."

"Now you're talking. Let's get you to your room and unpack, so we can get some dinner. We've been waiting for you."

"Who has?" Peter asked, excited.

"Some of the SHIELD people. Steve. Me. Nick. Natasha – of course."

"Wow."

"Yup." They walked down the now familiar corridor that led to Peter's room – as well as Tony's. "Oh, and we made a few changes to your room…"

"You did? What?"

"Have to wait and see," he said, mysteriously, making Romanoff smile.

Since they weren't too far from the door by then, it wasn't that long before Peter was opening the door. The little boy froze, though, with his hand on the knob and his eyes widened.

"Bunkbeds?! Wow."

Sam looked pleased, and Natasha did, too.

"Yup. What do you think?"

"That's awesome!"

"We thought you'd approve," Natasha said, smiling at his excitement. "It's better than putting a rollaway bed in, if you have company with you when you come to visit."

Not to mention, a little bird had told them just how excited Peter had been to have bunkbeds at the cabin, and it had only made sense to have them installed in his room at the compound, as well.

The bunk beds weren't two twin beds stacked on each other. The top bed was a twin, but the bottom one was a full-sized, and was turned the other direction. Ostensibly, it was to make it look roomier, but really it was because they figured if Peter fell off the top bunk in the middle of the night, or something, he'd land on the bigger bed and not hit his head, or hurt himself.

Avengers could be over-protective, sometimes, too.

"Thanks!"

Peter dropped his little bag on the bottom bed and immediately climbed up onto the top. Unlike the beds at the cabin, this one was right on level with his window, so he could look outside without even getting out of bed, now.

Sam walked over to the end of the top bunk, looking up at the boy.

"Don't get too comfortable," he told Peter. "We still need to eat dinner."

He offered his arms to Peter and the boy moved over so he could be lifted down from the bed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Both looked pleased that he was so happy with the surprise.

"Sam's going to help you unpack your things," Natasha told him – and Wilson. "Then I'll meet you and the others in the lounge. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, curiously.

"To put my flowers in water and find a place to display them so I can show them off, properly."

Peter grinned at that, happy that she liked them.

The two watched her gather her flowers, candy, and card and leave and then Wilson turned to Peter.

"What did you bring?"

"Clothes and my bear."

And his Lego batman. He didn't need a lot of things when he visited the compound, since they had a varied and wide selection of toys and activities already set up there for him. The Avengers and SHIELD had never hosted a child before Tony had introduced them to Peter, but they adapted, easily, and were enjoying themselves trying to outdo each other coming up with new and more impressive ways to entertain him.

As such, it didn't take long for Sam to help Peter unpack is bag and shove all the clothes into the dresser. Wilson noted that there were far more than he was going to need for the weekend, so he assumed – correctly – that Stark had sent extras so they could stay at the compound for future visits.

"Sleeping on the top, or the bottom, tonight?" he asked the little boy, holding up the stuffed bear so he'd know which pillow was going to be needed.

Peter smiled.

"Top."

"Top, it is." Wilson put the bear neatly into place where Peter would find it, later, and then swept the boy into his arms, dangling him upside down and swinging him as he headed for the door. He'd missed him, too.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

"So am I. Let's go eat."

Peter made a happy noise that echoed in the corridor when Sam turned him upright, again, and then set him on his feet so they could walk side by side to the lounge.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Tacos were easy. A little messy, yes, but simple. Even for an eight year old with little hands. Sam led Peter into the lounge and over to a table where Natasha and Steve were sitting. The boy ran up and greeted Steve, who picked him up to hug him because it was easier than leaning over and doing it – besides, Peter weighed next to nothing, so it wasn't that difficult to do.

"Hey, there's my favorite sticky guy."

"Hi, Steve."

Rogers smiled, tousled his hair and then set him down so Peter could climb into the chair with the thick books stacked on it.

"How have you been?"

"Good." The boy saw that Natasha had put her dozen yellow roses in a vase and set it in the middle of the table, along with the card, and the box of chocolate. "Did you see Natasha's flowers?"

"I did. The perfect Valentine's trifecta. Card, candy, and flowers. Well done."

"Tony helped."

"Of course, he did. He's supposed to. What's he doing this weekend while we keep you company?"

"I don't know," Peter admitted, looking over when a couple of servers brought platters of taco ingredients over to set on the table beside the flowers. "Pepper's coming over, I think. Or they're going out to dinner."

"Or both," Natasha said. "Let's eat. I'm starved."

"What are we doing tonight?" Sam asked, putting a couple of shells on a plate and handing it to Peter so the boy could point to what he wanted in his tacos.

"It's pretty cold out, tonight," Natasha said, looking at the boy who was watching Sam load up his tacos and also watching her with interest. "We'll play outside, tomorrow, and stick with something in the gym, or games in here, tonight. Okay?"

"Yeah."

"The poker game is in here, tonight," Steve reminded the others. "We'll stick to the gym, so Peter doesn't get bored with them."

"I know how to play poker," the boy said, shoving a handful of shredded cheese into his mouth, greedily. "May taught me. And one of her boyfriends."

"Poker?" Sam asked. "Why would she do that?"

Who taught a little kid how to play poker?

"And blackjack, and horse racing, and lots of other things. Her and her boyfriend played online," Peter told them, picking the olives off his taco and making Sam roll his eyes. "I help with card counting and statistical odds, and told them what horses to bet on."

Natasha frowned.

"You can count cards?"

"Sure. It's easy math." Peter took a big bite of his taco, spilling half of the items out of the other end of the shell. "Want me to teach you?"