The Cloak of Levitation was clearly not enthralled with the idea of going for a drive. As Peter got behind the wheel, there was a grumbling in his head, answered by amusement coming from Alec, and the cloak detached itself from Peter's shoulders and made its way to Tony's shoulder, instead, surprising the billionaire.

"It isn't going?" he asked his son.

"Doesn't seem interested," Peter replied with a shrug. He looked at Quill. "Do you want the top down?" he asked, fairly certain what the answer would be.

"Yeah. Of course."

Tony shook his head, moving it a little when the cloak started messing with his ear. He wondered if it would listen to him if he told it to go find Stephen, but didn't bother to find out. He looked at the others, ignoring the way Pepper was smiling her amusement at the treatment he was receiving from the ancient relic.

"Let's go show you guys the guest quarters. If you're interested, we can put you up in actual rooms, if you don't want to stay on your ship."

He led the way out of the garage, not bothering to lecture the boy about staying safe.

OOOOOO

"Hello, Peter."

Quill looked around, confused, at the feminine voice that greeted them when the boy turned the engine over.

"Hey, Karen."

He waited for the top to lock into place behind them.

"Your car talks to you?" Rocket asked, surprised.

"Yeah. That's Karen. She's-"

"Like in Knight Rider?" Quill asked. "KITT?"

"I'm so much better than KITT," Karen replied, before Peter could say anything.

The boy smiled at the brag – even though it was definitely true.

"Karen's my AI," he explained. "She's in my quarters, in my car and in my suit."

"So... like your wife?"

Peter shrugged.

"More like a nanny," Karen replied, making Peter's smile widen.

"She keeps me connected with Tony," Peter told them. "Through his AI, Friday. It makes him feel better about letting me drive places alone, or going out by myself."

"She can call for help?"

"Yeah."

"Does your car have missiles?" Quill asked, interested. "Or shoot bullets?"

"No." he looked back at Rocket, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat. "Buckle up, okay? It's the rule in my car. And if we get pulled over, you're going to have to pretend to just be a raccoon dressed up. Sorry…"

The raccoon scowled, but he did as he was told and looked around for the seatbelts, which were fairly universal, and didn't need to be explained. Quill put his on, as well, before Peter needed to tell him, and he whooped when the boy pulled the car out of the garage.

OOOOOOO

"This place is pretty nice," Drax said, as they finished the tour – having seen the majority of the compound. The pool, the gyms – including a quick chance to see Ironpig, who had the run of the compound but tended to hang out in the gym for the most part, because that was where there was always someone willing to pet him when Tony was too busy to do it himself. "You live here?"

"We do. Some of the Avengers do – while others only work here or come here during the week but go home to their families on the weekend."

"Peter lives here, permanently?" Gamora asked.

"He does."

"Is that wise?" she asked, clearly worried. "If Thanos finds out about his connection to the stones, he'll almost certainly come looking for him – either to take him, or to kill him."

"Then he'll run into a world of hurt," Tony told her. "This place is well defended, now, but it's about to undergo a complete upgrade."

Steve nodded his agreement to that, but Pepper just looked worried.

"Thanos commands a great army," Drax said.

"Yeah. I know." He shrugged. "I'll make sure Peter's safe," he told Gamora – and Pepper. "You can be sure of it."

They ended the tour back where they started it; in the lounge. Peter hadn't returned, yet, but they hadn't been gone so long that Tony was concerned – and Karen hadn't reported any problems. Stephen was seated at the table with Natasha. Wong and Fury were both gone.

"Where's Peter?" Natasha asked, noticing the boy's absence, immediately.

Especially when the Cloak of levitation came swooping to Stephen's shoulder, practically launching itself from Tony's to reattach itself to the magician's collar.

"He took Quill and Rocket for a drive in his car…" Tony answered. "They shouldn't be too much longer."

"Was that entirely wise?" Strange asked, making Tony wonder if he was worried about Thanos, too. He realized that the sorcerer had a different concern, though, when he spoke, again. "A talking raccoon might be difficult to explain if they get into any trouble and the police are involved."

"They'll be fine," Tony said. He looked at Pepper. "Coffee?"

"Please."

She sat down, along with Mantis, Drax and Gamora, but Groot went back to the sofa that he'd been sitting on, earlier, reclaimed his hand-held video game and started playing, with Nutmeg once more swinging his tail from his lofty vantage spot on Groot's head.

"Who needs a cat tree when you have a Groot?" Natasha asked, amused.

Gamora looked over, following Romanoff's gaze, and her expression softened, telling the Earthlings that she definitely had a soft spot for the young tree.

"Maybe when this is all over, we'll get him a pet."

Tony had returned just in time to hear the comment and he handed Pepper her coffee.

"I don't know that a cat is the best choice, though. They're jerks."

OOOOOOO

"Where are we going to go?" Peter asked the boy, putting his hand out of the side of the car and letting the wind hit his hand at different angles, remembering doing the same thing when he was much, much, younger and riding with his mother in their car.

"There isn't much traffic," Peter replied, speaking up so that Rocker could hear him, as well. "We can just drive around for a while, if you want."

He knew the back roads pretty well, after all, and he drove the weekends, often. And he loved driving the car, really – especially with an appreciative companion."

"He's really enjoying himself," Alec confirmed. "Being in space like he has been for the most part, he's missed out on a lot of the things that he enjoyed when he was a child."

"That's fine," Quill agreed, grinning over at the boy. "Wherever you want to go."

"Play some eighties music," Alec suggested. "Make it as good as you can for him."

Peter smiled, more than willing to do just that.

"Karen? Make an eighties top billboard playlist and give us some road trip music, will you?"

"Sure."

A moment later the very impressive (and upgraded) sound system in the car was playing old rock songs that Peter knew, but only from movie soundtracks. Quill, on the other hand, knew them from a much more intimate source, and he grinned at the boy, slapping his shoulder, happily.

"I love you, Peter Parker."

The boy smirked, pleased with himself for making the man so happy.

"I'm taken," he replied, turning his attention back to the road.

Sort of.

OOOOOOO

"Peter's back."

The others looked at Tony, who was seated at the table, playing cards with Pepper, Stephen and Natasha. Mantis was watching the game with interest, and quietly learning how to play – something that she would pass on to the others during the many quiet nights on the ship in the future. Drax and Gamora were playing darts with Steve and Clint, and Drax, especially, seemed to be enjoying the fact that he was throwing pointy objects at a target and getting awarded points for doing so.

Groot was still on the sofa, video game in hand and kitten on his head.

"They're alright?" Gamora asked, almost automatically.

"We didn't hear otherwise," Tony assured her. "He has an AI interface in his car, so I'd have been alerted if they needed anything."

Pepper looked at her watch.

"I didn't expect them to be gone so long…" she told him. "I wonder where they went…"

A noise and then a motion at the entrance drew her attention, and she rolled her eyes when the answer walked into the lounge.

Peter was munching on a corndog (which told her that they'd stopped at the gas station). Completely understandable, she supposed – even though she was sure Tony had told them they weren't supposed to make any stops. That wasn't so unusual; the boy enjoyed the corndogs at the gas station – she was just surprised that it had made it as far as the garage. Then she smiled as Peter Quill and Rocket walked into the room behind Peter. Both of them had corndogs, as well, shoved into their mouths, with the sticks poking out like a wooden cigarette, or something. The reason for that was obvious since both of them had their arms filled with an assortment of junk food packages; loaded down with everything from bags of chips to candy bars and Quill even had a 44oz fountain drink sitting precariously in the crook of his elbow.

They were all three smiling, but Quill looked like he'd had the time of his life, and even Pepper couldn't bring herself to scold them.

"Let me guess…" Tony said, drawing out the words. "You found the gas station…?"

Peter smiled.

"Yeah."