"Wow…"
Natasha heard the awe in Clint's voice and had to nod her own agreement. They were standing on the deck, the early morning sun trying to fight its way through the scattering snowflakes, giving them all a good view of the wall of snow that was, in some places, literally taller than the trees that it had been stopped behind. The area between the face of the mountain and the tree line was covered in snow that was so packed it reminded Natasha of one of the giant glaciers that she'd once seen on a trip to Alaska.
"That's some serious power," Steve said, also looking awed.
They'd all seen Stark's video that morning when they'd gotten up, and there was no doubt who was responsible for the tightly packed wall – and for stopping it from almost certainly impacting the cabin in the middle of the night. Peter was still asleep – and so were Ned and MJ – but the rest of them were up, and all of them had been interested in seeing the effect of an avalanche stopped in mid slide.
"Wonder what happens when it starts melting," Bruce said, leaning against the rail of the deck.
"Presumably it melts slowly enough to make it to the rivers during spring thaw," Strange said, also leaning against the rail. "Rather than forcing a deluge through the living room."
"If it doesn't stop snowing, we're going to be here to find out," Steve said.
Natasha smiled at that.
"I think we're safe."
The snow was still coming down that morning, but it wasn't as hard as it had been the past few days, and there were places that the sky was almost blue when they looked toward the sledding hill.
"I'm going to go in," Clint said.
He needed coffee.
The others agreed, and they all went inside, shedding coats and boots and joining Pepper, who had left the bed to Tony and Peter and come looking for coffee as well. Tony had woken long enough to tell her what had happened, but after pressing a gentle hand against Peter's forehead to check for any kind of dangerous fever, he'd decided that he was going to sleep in. Peter was still warm, but nothing like the night before – although he hadn't stirred, even in his sleep, so it was obvious that he was still sleeping off the activities of the night before.
Elmer was seated at the table with Pepper. The two were looking through his pictures from the day before – as opposed to the ones from the night before, which were in Tony's things, now, where no one would find them. They both looked up when the rest of the group sat at the table, everyone reaching for the coffee pot and a mug.
"Has Peter woken, yet?" Clint asked.
"No. Not, yet."
"He'll probably sleep a while," Stephen said. "I'll check on him later to make sure his fever isn't out of control."
"You'll check his hip, too?" Pepper asked.
"Of course."
"Should we start breakfast?" Clint asked, getting up. "We can have it ready when the kids get up. I know Ned was talking about sledding this morning – and I'm all for that."
Of course he was. Any time he could hurtle himself down a slope, or into the sky attached to a rocket, he was willing. Bruce agreed with that, too, although the general consensus was that most of them intended to stay inside – at least that morning – and simply relax after the igloo building of the day before.
"I'll help you," Strange said, also standing.
The doctor wasn't overly fond of cooking, but he didn't mind doing it, especially when he could use magic to assist. He was very much aware of the fact that the people who cooked never had to do dishes – it was an unspoken rule. Stephen Strange was not fond of doing dishes. He would have cooked for an army before doing dishes for one.
By the time Ned and MJ joined the adults at the table, dressed and ready for another day out in the snow, there were stacks of pancakes, platters of eggs and sausages waiting for them all to eat. Both were told that Peter had had a slight setback in the middle of the night and was sleeping it off, and that Tony was keeping him company, and were then told to eat up.
Which they did, knowing that if it was serious the others would look a lot more concerned than they were. Especially Pepper and Strange.
OOOOOOOOO
A hand on his forehead woke him at the same time he felt someone sit on the edge of the bed beside him.
"Peter?"
He opened his eyes, feeling muzzy and a bit out of sorts – almost as if he were hung over, even though it wasn't a state that he'd ever actually experienced, only read about. Doctor Strange and Tony were both in the bedroom, Tony sitting on the bed and Strange standing next to it. Both men smiled when he woke.
"Hey…" Tony told him, brushing his hair back, checking for fever. "How do you feel?"
"Tired," he admitted.
"Warm?" Strange asked, reaching for his forehead as well.
"No. I feel okay."
"You're not too badly fevered," the doctor told him. "How tired are you? Exhausted as if you've been up for days, or just tired…?"
"Just worn out, I think," Peter replied. "Like I stayed up too late and shouldn't have because I have school the next day."
"How's your hip?"
"It aches."
He hadn't slept on it, though, so that was a plus.
Strange kept him on his side so he could check the wound and then rebandaged it with a thick dressing to provide protection. To avoid injuring it when they were showing some progress, he said as he taped the bandage down.
"Do you feel up to getting up for a while?" Tony asked.
He was tired, but he knew that Tony wouldn't worry if he slept some more as long he had something to eat, first. Instead of giving any resistance he simply nodded and allowed Stark to help him get out of bed. He felt stiff and sore and tired, but he knew that some of that was simply from being in bed and might work itself out with a little movement. Of course, he didn't feel like moving too much just then, so he'd stick with being sore for a while longer.
He wasn't leaning too heavily on Stark when he walked out of the bedroom and smiled at the others when he saw that the living room was far from empty. Bruce was in a beanbag chair reading the Avenger book by the fireplace. Natasha and Pepper were on the sectional with coffee cups in hand, watching a movie, and Jack was lounging in front of the fireplace, almost asleep – although he wagged his tail idly in greeting when Peter made his appearance with Tony and Stephen.
They all looked up, and Natasha moved slightly, to make a space for the boy between her and Pepper. The guys had had him to themselves long enough. She was ready to spend some time with him, too, and to make sure that he was okay, of course. Peter accepted the invitation and both women greeted him with a smile and a touch.
"How do you feel?" Pepper asked before Natasha could.
"I'm okay," he answered, honestly. "Tired."
"Hungry?" Romanoff asked.
"Yeah."
"Breakfast or lunch, Peter?" Strange asked.
He would have said whatever was easiest, but he knew that the doctor almost certainly wasn't going to actually cook anything, so he just shrugged and asked for a plate of chicken nuggets and French fries. A moment later it was placed on the coffee table in front of him, and the two men flanked the women on the sofa.
"What happened with the avalanche?" Peter asked, curiously. "Is everything okay?"
"You stopped the snow well away from the cabin," Stark said. "It's fairly well packed, and completely stable. We do not need to worry about anything like that – at least for a while, Friday says."
"But if you start getting any vibes, make sure you speak up," Natasha told him with a wink as she stole a chicken nugget from his plate.
"I will."
"What do you remember about last night?" Stephen asked him, another plate of nuggets appearing in his hand with a gentle tingle, which he then handed to Romanoff.
Peter shrugged.
"I was restless, and it got worse and worse. I tried to ignore it – I thought it was just because I hadn't been outside much. When it was so bad that it was making my head hurt, I decided I should at least ask Tony to come look once more – thinking that maybe we missed something the first time." He hesitated. "Then it got a bit weird. I was seeing what Tony was seeing, even though I didn't have my suit on or Karen to relay it, and I knew there was an avalanche coming."
"I assume you didn't cast the spell that stopped it?" Stephen asked.
"No. I wouldn't have known what to do. It came from me, but I didn't have anything to do with it, really."
They chatted with him while he ate his lunch, but the conversation went from the avalanche to what the others were doing, and the revelation that Rupp had seen him push the snow back with the spell but had already turned over the memory card with the photos and had promised not to share the information with anyone. It remained to be seen if he really would keep it to himself, but without any evidence to back him up, there couldn't be too much of a sensation even if he did tell others what Peter has done.
Peter finished eating and was back to sleep not too long after. He was tired, and now he was also pleasantly full. He wanted to see what the avalanche aftermath looked like, but he could wait until later. Leaning against Natasha since the injured hip was on Pepper's side, he drifted off while the adults watched movies, or in Bruce's case, finished reading the Avengers book.
Tony went over to the fireplace and scooped Jack up into his arms, and the puppy woke up just long enough to get comfortable on the couch with the rest of them, then he was snoring softly with his head in Pepper's lap.
It was a relaxing way to spend the morning, and much better than other possibilities.