They woke Peter when they arrived at the compound.

Tony wouldn't have minded just carrying him to his bed as he had on a number of occasions, but with his injured arm and hand, the billionaire didn't want to risk picking him up and causing him any pain with a misplaced pressure point. Besides, he'd had almost an hour to nap, and while they'd been driving home, they'd heard Peter's phone ring a couple of times. He probably had a phone call or two to make.

Stark waited until Pepper and Shuri were both gone; Pepper was going to do some prep for her upcoming week, and Shuri was going to go see if Steve had returned from Clint's yet. Or was going to see what Rocket and Groot were doing. Maybe get a peek into their spaceship if Peter and Gamora would allow it, since they were going to be working in it, that day.

Peter opened his eyes at Tony's care nudge.

"We're home?" he asked, sleepily, not in any hurry to lift his head and look around.

"Yeah. How's the arm?"

"The arm hardly hurts," Peter told him, sitting up. "The hand is a dull throb." He looked around, now, saw that Pepper wasn't there and looked at Tony. "It should be healed by now, though… Has Stephen said anything to you about it?"

"It was really hurt, Peter," Tony reminded him. "It's probably just taking longer because of all the damage that was done. Stephen said it looked good, and I'm going to believe him. He wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

Which was true, and they both knew it. One of the things Tony liked best about Strange was how upfront he was. Peter liked that, too.

"Yeah."

Tony smiled, pushing Peter's hair flat where it was sticking up from using him as a pillow while he'd slept.

"We'll get a better look at it, tomorrow. So don't worry until we have a reason to. All right?"

"Okay." He stretched, a little. "Where is Shuri and Pepper?"

"Shuri went looking for trouble to get into and Pepper went to our rooms. Both would love your company, I'm sure." Which made Peter smile. "But check your phone, too. It rang while you were asleep."

Peter must have been soundly sleeping to have slept through that. A cell phone ring was a siren call to most kids, really, and Peter wasn't an exception. He reached one-handed into his pocket and pulled his phone to look at it.

"MJ."

"Twice?" Tony asked. "You should probably see what she wanted, then, yeah?"

"Yeah." It was the first time that she'd reached out to him in a long time. Maybe she wasn't so mad, anymore? "Do you need me for anything?"

"No. I'm going to be pestering mom if you need anything. You know where to find me."

Tony helped him out of the limo, so he didn't stumble trying to get out one-handed and then hugged him before they separated. Peter going to his quarters and Tony going to his.

OOOOOOO

He debated doing video chat with MJ, as he sat down on the sofa, still a little tired – even from walking such a short distance. He was also somewhat stuffed from lunch, still, and feeling weighed down because of it. Pleasantly, though, and not at all sorry about eating as much as he had. MJ would notice he looked tired, though, he was sure. She didn't miss much, after all, and he didn't want her to be worried about him.

The fact that she worried about him was already a bone of contention between them, he knew.

"Karen? Called MJ, please. Video."

The TV turned on; the screen blank except for a small square in the corner that showed his face and some of the sofa. A moment later the call answered, and MJ was taking up a majority of the screen, the background telling Peter that she was in her room at her home.

"Hi," she said, and he saw her looking at him, intently.

"Hey. I'm sorry I missed your call. I was asleep."

"It's okay. You slept in?"

"I did, but then we went to brunch. I fell asleep on the way home."

"Oh. Did Ned go?"

His friend must have told her that he was coming over. Peter nodded.

"Him and Tony, Pepper, Shuri, Natasha and Stephen. Natasha took Ned home when we were done."

"You must be feeling better if you're being allowed to go out to eat."

"I'm doing okay," he confirmed. "They're going to take the bandages off, tomorrow, and see how the hand is doing."

"Are you going to tell me what happened to it?" she asked, pointedly.

Peter hesitated. He didn't know what to tell her. Stephen said it was like a burn, so he supposed that was the closest to actual truth.

"I-"

Her eyes narrowed at the hesitation and she must have read his expression pretty well, because she scowled.

"Don't bother," she interrupted. "I'd rather not know at all if you're not going to tell me the truth."

"I wasn't going to lie to you," Peter told her. "I just don't know how to describe it – or if I can."

"Does Ned know?"

She looked annoyed and wasn't bothering to hide it.

"No."

"Does Shuri?"

Peter shook his head.

"No. It's just that – "

"It's just that you have yet another secret that you're hiding from me – causing yet another injury that I need to worry about," MJ said, interrupting, again.

Peter felt a flare of annoyance, too, now, too. It wasn't his fault, and he was too tired and achy to try and placate her.

"You don't have to worry about me, at all," he told her. "Everyone else does plenty of that. I'm fine. The bandages will come off and I'll have some physical therapy and it'll be good to go."

He hoped.

"Until the next time you do something stupid and get yourself hurt trying to be a hero."

"I'm not trying to be a hero," he said, and now he was beyond irritated and working straight up to angry. "And I didn't do anything stupid to hurt myself."

He'd saved the world, right? And was mad enough, now, that he wasn't bothering to hide it.

"Whatever, Peter."

Not an uncommon comeback for a teenaged girl, but it annoyed her to say it, and it annoyed Peter to hear it.

"Why did you call me if you're just going to bitch at me?" Peter asked her.

"I didn't call to-" she interrupted herself. "I was just checking on you. But if you're too busy having your good buddies Ned and Shuri over and not me, I'll hang up so you can get back to what you were doing."

"You made it pretty clear you didn't want to talk to me," Peter reminded her. "Ned's called a dozen times and Shuri pretty much saved my life. You just snap at me whenever I try to talk to you and gripe about me doing dangerous stuff."

"Because it's dangerous."

"It's who I am," Peter said. "And I'm not going to stop doing it." And now they were both talking about him being spiderman. "I already have a mom, MJ," he told her. "She worries about me enough for everyone and I can't stop her from doing it but I'm not going to deal with you doing it, too."

"Fine."

The call ended, abruptly, and Peter stared at the black display for a long moment, still angry and getting angrier with every heartbeat.

"Shit." He waited, but Alec was conspicuous in his silence – definitely not willing to get involved in that conversation if he could avoid it. Peter got to his feet, somewhat awkwardly, and stopped long enough to pick up his keys. "I'm going for a drive…" he said, mainly so Karen would know – if Tony asked.

Then he headed for the door.