The next day went pretty similar to the first one. Only, Spencer did his morning assessment while embracing his powers, letting it enhance his abilities. Going through the test like that was surprisingly fun. More than once Spencer found himself grinning as he did something that he otherwise wouldn't have bene able to do. By the time he was done, he wasn't exhausted like he'd been the day before – he was energized. It was amazing! For the first time, he wasn't the weakest in the room. Wasn't the one that was physically a liability. He wasn't panting or exhausting himself or getting beat up by things that most 'normal' people could do. Instead, he was doing things that occasionally had Jim openly gaping at him.

It made for a much more relaxed lunch, which was made better by a call from Peter halfway through.

Spencer didn't actually have a phone, but Tony had come into the room briefly to toss one at him – which Spencer fumbled to catch – and warned him "Try not to fry this." Moments later, he was gone, and the phone had been ringing, and Spencer was left floundering for a moment while Jim laughed at him.

They'd given him an hour to talk to Peter before he was called out for his afternoon session back in the training field with Tony. That session was more 'playing with his powers' than anything else, but it let Tony document and study what he could do, and it was even more fun than his morning session because afterwards he got to sit with Bruce and Tony and talk about what they'd found. Having two amazingly brilliant men to talk to was like a form of Heaven for Spencer.

He wasn't using to being so intellectually challenged. Or so understood. He didn't typically have to give more than a line or two, at most, to explain something he said. Sometimes he didn't even have to give explanations – he would say something and one or both of the men would just light up and start to ramble right along with him. Sometimes, they had to stop to explain things to him, and Spencer loved it.

That seemed to set up his schedule for the next few days. The only thing that changed was that, on his third morning there, they didn't need to do physical assessments anymore. It was time to start training. Loosely translated, that meant that Jim started Spencer on a workout routine that was enough to push him without exhausting him. One that he had to do without the use of his powers.

For the rest of the week that was how Spencer's days ran. Training with Jim in the morning, lunch and usually a call from Peter – who was thrilled to have Ned back home and talked excitedly about the idea of introducing the two of them – and then afternoons with Tony, followed up by evening with Tony and Bruce discussing science as they ate dinner. A dinner that Spencer usually cooked. He'd found out that the group usually existed off some pretty boring meals or someone would bring something back from the city with them. After he'd realized that, he'd conspired with FRIDAY and got some groceries delivered, and he took over making dinner. It was one small way that he could think to pay them back for what they were doing for him.

If his days were filled with activity and fun, his nights were much less so.

Late at night there was nothing to distract Spencer from his thoughts or his memories. All of his darker thoughts came roaring to the front. The guilt from feeling so good while knowing his team was back home worrying about him, the fear of what his future might hold, the worry for his friends and his family, the crushing loneliness. All the things that he couldn't say out loud to anyone else. They came to him at night and ate at him until he'd end up curled up in the chair near the window, blanket wrapped around him and body shaking.

Sometimes he'd sit there for hours, staring out at the sky. Other times he'd go over his own notes and wonder achingly what Stephen had discovered so far.

FRIDAY was a good companion. She never bothered him at those moments. She did, however, seek to help, at least in her own way. She piped soft music into his room so that he wasn't forced to sit there in silence. If it was a nightmare that woke him, she'd turn the lights on low. Just enough for it not to be dark while not making it too bright for him. If he looked cold, she'd turn the heat up for him without even asking. She was amazing, and Spencer enjoyed her.

He'd been at the Compound for a week before Peter was able to come back. It was Sunday, which meant that Spencer was lucky enough to have the morning off from the exercise regimen that Jim had him doing, but Tony had mentioned the previous night at dinner that he wanted to get Spencer and Peter out to start some of Spencer's power training.

When Peter arrived, though, Spencer was in the kitchen with the Vision and Bruce, walking Vision through the last few steps of the brownies they were making. It was a recipe that Spencer had found long ago – his grandmother's, written in an old box up in the attic of his childhood home – and it was one of his favorites. "We just need to mix it all together now," Spencer told him, shifting to grab the whisk from where he'd set it earlier. He didn't hand it straight to Vision. Instead, he stuck it in the bowl and held the edge of the bowl as he started to stir in steady, even movements. "You can always use a mixer to do this with, but I have a preference for using a whisk or spatula. Mixers never quite reach to the bottom of the bowl and so when you go to pour it into the pan you're left with excess powder at the bottom that should've been mixed in with everything else. With a whisk, you don't have that problem. You can get straight to the bottom of the bowl as well as scraping the sides occasionally to ensure that you mix everything."

"That makes sense." Vision watched him, waiting patiently until Spencer handed over the bowl and whisk, and then he took them from the teen and started to mix on his own. The two were quiet for a moment as Vision began. After a second, his eyes flicked up to check with Spencer, who gave a small nod and a smile to let him know he was doing right.

From his seat at the island, Bruce was smiling as well. He was enjoying some of the tea that Spencer had brewed and a large zucchini muffin – Spencer and Vision's first attempt in the kitchen this morning. Bruce had agreed to be their taste-tester. He was one that Spencer knew would be kind to Vision, plus it would do Bruce some good to come up out of his lab for a while. "You bake like you're mixing experiments."

"Isn't the theory the same?" Spencer asked. "You add various ingredients in specific amounts to come up with a desired result. Unlike cooking, where you can vary your ingredients to suit your flavor, baking is much more precise. More or less of a certain ingredient can ruin your entire recipe."

"I've never quite thought about it like that."

Shrugging, Spencer moved to grab the pan. Their mix looked like it was ready. "The skills transfer easily between the two. Recipes that require a delicate hand are no more complex than some of the chemistry experiments I've done. Less dangerous, honestly. The worst you can do while baking is make a mess or ruin your recipe. Experiments have the potential to explode."

"I think I much prefer this," Vision said in that smooth, calm tone of his. Spencer could feel he was amused, though.

Spencer was helping to brace the bowl so they could pour their mixture into the baking pan when he felt a familiar presence right at the edge of his senses. He looked up with a brighter smile than the other two were used to seeing from him. Turning his head, he didn't pay any attention to the others, his eyes going right to the windows. There was no reason to ask why. A moment later a familiar figure in red and blue swung into sight and landed lightly on the window.

The top of the window opened and Peter crawled up, easily slipping inside and dropping down to his feet. "Hey Dr. Banner, hey Vision." Once he greeted them, he focused on Spencer, almost vibrating with his energy and the good mood that Spencer could feel coming off him. "Spencer! Guess who's finally freeeeee!" He flung his arms dramatically out to either side and Spencer just knew he was grinning underneath his mask.

Keeping half an eye on the bowl he held, Spencer snickered. "Your grounding is over, I see."

Peter snorted as he came into the kitchen. "Dude, don't even get me started on that. That was the most boring week ever. No coming out here to pl—do stuff. No patrolling. Mr. Stark threatened to take my suit if I put it on for anything less than life or death!"

The last of the mixture was scraped into the pan, leaving Spencer free to pull the bowl back. He set it down in the sink, Vision right behind him, and then the two turned back to the stove. Vision watched as Spencer took the pan and placed it inside. When the young genius straightened up, he didn't reach for the timer as he would at home. Instead, he asked, "FRIDAY? Would you mind setting a timer for twenty-two minutes?" When she let him know that she would, he turned towards Vision, offering him a small smile. "Once she lets us know, we'll pull it out and test it. Usually, twenty-two minutes seems to be perfect for these, but it never hurts to check them when you pull them out. The easiest way to do it is to stick a toothpick or even a butter knife in the center of the brownies. You push it down to the bottom and then pull it back out. If it comes out with any batter that looks wet, you need to cook it for longer, in five-minute increments. If it comes out clean, you're done."

Once Vision nodded at him to show he understood, Spencer turned to take the dishes to the sink and focused back on Peter again, his smile back in place. "So naturally, the first thing you do with your freedom is to come to the home of the man that grounded you."

The other teen pulled off his mask and tossed it on the counter, gloves following after it. Then he was coming up to Spencer's side and falling into place in preparation to take the bowl that Spencer had started washing. "Well, yeah. You're here." He said the words like they were something that should've been obvious to Spencer. As if it was just natural that he was going to come here to see the person he'd only known for such a short time.

Spencer flushed a little and dropped his head down a little to focus on the dishes in his hands.

"Do you guys have plans today?" Bruce asked them.

It was the perfect distraction. Peter turned to beam over at him as he nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah! Mr. Stark said he wanted to start some training today, so we're gonna show him some of the things we've figured out for Spencer's powers, and I've got a few things I wanted to try out. May wants me to bring Spencer home for dinner tonight, too." He turned to Spencer at that last part, directing his words at him. "She says it's been too long since you've been out there and she wants to see how you're doing. You know how she is – she's worrying you're not eating enough. She'll probably order half the restaurant. Man, I used to think she was bad worrying about how much I eat, but you've got me beat. It's like she thinks you're going to waste away."

That was something that Spencer wasn't unfamiliar with. He passed the bowl in his hands to Peter and shrugged his shoulders as he picked up the whisk to wash. "I'm used to it. I've never been able to put on or properly maintain my weight. My team was always trying to feed me." JJ and Derek had been the worst at it, though once David had joined the team he hadn't been much better about it. And JJ's husband, Will, had seemed to take it as a personal affront if Spencer ever went home from their house with an empty belly, or without leftovers to stock his friends. JJ always joked it was the southern part of him showing through. Will would just laugh and say "Back home, food's a big thing. You don't go to anyone's house and not get fed."

Smiling, Spencer nodded at his friend. "I don't see a problem with that." Then he paused, backtracking over Peter's words. "You said she was ordering in, right?"

The grin that Peter wore practically lit up the room. "Oh yeah. She likes you too much to poison you."

A surprised sound from the side reminded the two of the audience they had. Spencer turned to find Bruce hiding a smile behind his cup while Vision was giving the two teens a confused look. "Does your aunt try to poison others?" He asked curiously.

Peter snickered just a little. "You could call it that." Then he was lifting a hand when Vision started to look alarmed, and he shook his head quickly. "No, no, I'm sorry, I was kidding around, Vision. Seriously. It's like, a bad sort of joke, that's all. May loves to try and cook, she's just sort of, well…"

"Really bad." Spencer supplied helpfully, knowing that being tactful wouldn't work so well in this conversation. Not if they wanted vision to understand.

His words had Peter nodding. "Yeah. Really bad. She tries, though! I mean, it's not great, and this one time she made a casserole that I still don't know what was in it and I threw up for, like, days, but she tries! An she can make some things. She can make awesome Hamburger Helper, and her nachos are the best. Plus, Spencer taught her how to make this cool chicken dish that, I swear, we could eat like seventeen tons of."

There was a chance that Peter's ramble could continue on indefinitely if someone didn't stop it. With that in mind, Spencer reached a hand out and laid his fingers lightly on Peter's arm, drawing his attention. Once he had it he smiled at the other teen. "Why don't you go head down and find out from Tony when he wants to start things today, hm? I'll finish up in here and come find the two of you as soon as I'm done."

"Oh, yeah, cool. No problem. That's a good idea!" In a flash, Peter had his gloves and his mask back on and he was taking off from the room, already calling out to FRIDAY as he went.

Spencer watched him go and gave a small shake of his head. There were only a few dishes left, plus some time still on their baking. If Spencer dallied a little longer than normal, deliberately taking his time, well, no one had to know. Though the knowing look that Bruce sent his way and the small smile on his lips as he did made it pretty clear that he'd guessed.

It was almost forty minutes later when Spencer finally broke away from his baking lesson with Vision to hunt down Tony and Peter. FRIDAY helped with that. She told him they were already waiting for him and directed him down towards them.

They met inside today instead of outside. Spencer found Tony and Peter in the middle of the big training room that FRIDAY had directed him to. The two were close to one another, and the picture they painted was one that made Spencer's lips twitch with a smile even as his heart ached a little. Peter was still in his suit, sans mask, and was clearly telling some sort of story. His hands were up and waving around periodically and his body kept bouncing in that way he got when excited about something. Everything about him was just… lit up. The happiness he felt in that moment was easy to see and feel.

As was Tony's.

There was no way that Spencer could miss the indulgent smile on Tony's lips, or the fond way that he was watching Peter. His affection was just as easy to feel as Peter's happiness. The two twined together, making a warmth in the air that Spencer wanted to close his eyes and just wrap himself up in. If he hadn't known the two, he would've thought that the two were family. The way they looked at the moment… it only helped that image along.

Tony had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, he was wearing a band t-shirt that Spencer didn't recognize the name of, his hair was mussed from where Spencer would bet he'd been running his hands through it while working, and all of that combined to make him look so much less like Tony Stark – billionaire, and a whole lot more like Tony Stark – dad.

Spencer doubted either man would appreciate the sentiment, though.

For a moment longer he just stood there and looked at the two. Spencer found himself reluctant to walk up and break the spell that seemed to have fallen over the room.

There was no place for him here. It was a feeling that Spencer had dealt with many times in his life. It'd taken until adulthood before he'd found a place in the world that had made him feel like he actually belonged. The BAU had become a home to him. It was the only one he'd ever known – and it was slowly breaking away. Little by little they were losing members of their team and replacing them with new ones. With each loss and each new addition, Spencer found himself once more feeling awkward and out of place. The outsider. He was the person that everyone always had to take time to get used to. The one that was strange at first, a little weird, but with time and exposure people could get used to his oddness and come to like it or figure out how to ignore it.

Except here.

Peter had accepted him almost right away. May, too. They'd just kind of welcomed Spencer in. Then the people here – Tony, Bruce, Jim, Vision – they'd been mistrustful at first, which was to be expected. But once they'd had his story confirmed, they'd accepted him in here like it was nothing. The past week, Spencer had somehow managed to seamlessly fold himself into their life here without any of the expected awkwardness that he was so used to. He didn't feel weird or different or out of place. Not like he usually did.

But looking at these two now… it was a harsh reminder that, while accepted, he was truly just a guest here. One who needed – wanted, he meant wanted, of course he did – to get back home. That was his goal, and that was what they were helping him with. No matter how nice they were, or how much they seemed to accept him, quirks and all, this wasn't his home. Likely, they were nice simply because they knew that he'd eventually be gone.

Spencer closed his eyes and blew out a careful breath. Then he shoved all those thoughts as far down as he possibly could. When he opened his eyes, the tension that had been building was gone from his body. It stayed gone as he made his way towards the two men.

It only took a few steps for them to notice him. Peter was the first one to do so and he lit up at the sight of Spencer. "Hey! You made it!"

The enthusiasm in those words was infectious. Spencer found his relaxation becoming just a bit more real. It was hard to remain upset in Peter's presence. "I'm sorry I took so long. Vision and I had to finish our baking before I could come down."

"You were baking with Vision?" Tony asked, even as Peter was hurriedly saying "Oh, man, no worries!"

When the teen realized that he'd talked over top of Tony, he shot him a sheepish look, one that earned him an eye-roll from Tony. The older man gave a small shake of his head as if to brush all of it off.

Amused, Spencer decided to be kind and help spare Peter anymore embarrassment. "You mentioned before that you had some things in mind for today, Peter?"

That worked perfectly to bring them to the reason they were here and distract from the color that had been in Peter's cheeks. At Spencer's words he spun back to face the young genius once more and his grin was back, bigger than before. "Heck yeah! I've been bored out of my mind this past week – plenty of time to try and figure out a few things for us to try for today. I've got loads and loads of ideas, man."

Tony watched the two of them with a curious look on his face. "How do you two come up with new ideas?"

It was Peter who answered that, giving a casual shrug as he did. "Sometimes they're things that just come to us when we're thinking about our powers. You know, that weird stuff you come up with when you're lying in bed at three a.m. trying to sleep and your brain just blurts out 'hey, what about this?'" The way that Tony looked at him made it clear he knew exactly what Peter was talking about, which made sense for a genius inventor. Peter nodded his head at that look. "We make notes of it and look at it during the day, expand on it, and then we bring it up when we get together and try and figure out if it'll work or not."

"And some of us Google it," Spencer added in with a small smile, one that quickly grew into a full one at Peter's embarrassed "Hey!" and the high blush that colored his cheeks.

It was hilarious to watch the way that Tony silently mouthed 'Google it' before he cast a baleful look Peter's way. "You're ridiculous."

The way that Peter scowled at them only made it all funnier. Rolling his eyes, Peter waved a hand in the air. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, both of you. I've come up with some awesome things off the internet! I mean, like, okay, I was thinking the other night about how I climb walls and such, and how it works for spiders, and then I got into this long tangent in my head about Van der Waals force, and then it hit me that you should be able to use your powers to climb walls, too! So I got on Google, did a little research, and it makes sense. With the level of control you've showed so far, being able to control things at such a small level should be easy. You should be able to do it without any real thought at all."

That was… huh. Spencer tilted his head a bit as he stared at the other teen. That wasn't something that he'd thought about at all. "It has potential. I don't possess the scopulae like you do, though."

"No, but really, if you want to boil it down to its most simple, all I do with those is create a sort of static cling. It's just, instinctive to me. It was part of my powers I never had to think about. Though it's fun to analyze." He flashed a quick grin. "You could arguably do the same thing if you can focus your powers to that level."

That was true. The logic of it was sound. Spencer chewed on the inside of his lip as he thought about it. Neither boy noticed the way that Tony was watching them now or how he'd taken a small step back as the two got into what they were saying. They were too caught up in the idea of this to notice much of anything except one another. After a moment of thought, Spencer took a step forward, holding his hand out with his palm facing towards Peter. The best way to figure something out was to test it in as safe a manner as possible. "Put your hand against mine and see if you can demonstrate what you usually do. We'll try it both with and without a charge. Maybe I can get a feel for what you're doing and try to replicate it."

Peter didn't even hesitate to pull off his glove and hold his hand up to Spencer. They pressed palm to palm and Spencer closed his eyes so he could better focus on where their hands touched. For a second there was nothing. Then… a faint hint of something. It tickled over his hand and against his senses. It was small enough he might not have noticed it if he wasn't looking for it. Hmm. "Again?"

"Sure."

One more time he felt that small charge against his skin. This time he was ready, and he reached back to it, trying to mimic it. He didn't get it quite right on the first try. There was something off. Something wrong. Then, with a small adjustment, their hands were suddenly pressed tight and flat against one another, and Spencer's eyes opened as he let out a startled laugh. He found Peter grinning at him. "I think you got it." The teen said, chuckling.

"Yeah, I think that's safe to say." Spencer agreed.

The two had to focus to let go of one another. Once he was sure the charge was gone, Spencer drew his hand back. He brought the charge to his skin, took it away, brought it back, took it away again, until he was sure he had down what he needed to do. It was definitely easy now that he knew what it was. Something that he'd be able to call up with barely any thought. Now that he had that down, they needed to test it out on something other than Peter's hand.

Peter must've been thinking along the same lines that he was. With the kind of grin that always seemed to spell trouble, he lifted his now free hand and smacked it right against Spencer's forehead. Then he laughed and jumped almost completely to the wall. "Come and get me!"

It only took a split second before Spencer shot off after him. This wasn't the first time they'd turned their training into some sort of game. It made it easier for the both of them to do some things or to relax enough to get comfortable. Because of that, it was no surprise at all to see Peter scramble his way up the wall like the spider he was. He paused halfway up and pulled one hand free to stick his thumb against his nose and wiggle the rest of his fingers while he stuck his tongue out at Spencer.

Cheeky little brat.

Spencer reached the wall and tried not to let himself hesitate or overthink what he was about to do. That seemed to always be a downfall of his – overthinking. They'd figured out the science of it here on the ground. Now was the time to let it settle in with the rest of him in that instinctive way he needed his abilities to be to effectively use them. Keeping that in mind, Spencer only paused for a second before he reached a hand up onto the wall the same as he'd seen Peter do plenty of times before. He called the charge to his skin that he'd just learned and he let it reach out, felt the energy reaching back for him in the same way it did when he was attaching his feet to his board, or when he'd attach his passenger to him while flying.

Making that mental connection made it all so much easier. The numbers and facts ran rapidly through Spencer's mind at the same time that his tension bled away. He could do this.

Without any more hesitation, he was climbing his way up the wall, hands and shoes easily sticking. It was satisfying to see Peter's surprised expression in the second before he reacted and started to climb again.

Peter reached the top of the wall first and immediately moved to climb across the ceiling as well. When Spencer got there, he didn't let himself hesitate this time and hurried after him. Only, he'd forgotten what a cheater Peter could be sometimes. Halfway across the ceiling, Peter stuck a hand out and a second later he was swinging through the air to the other side of the room. Spencer hung from the ceiling and scowled at him. "Cheater!"

"You're just jealous you don't have webs like me!" Peter shot back. "Jealousy is a petty emotion, Spencer. I thought you were better than that!"

Oh, you little imp. Well, if that was how he wanted to play things… The only real rule they had for these games was that whichever one was training couldn't fall back on things he was already really good at, or that he was comfortable with. Which meant his platform was out of the picture. He was going to have to come up with something else.

Spencer looked up at where his hands were still connected to the ceiling. To him, it was easy to see the energy that sat between his palms and the ceiling. Testingly, he drew his hand back, keeping hold of the energy as he did. The blue light of his energy stayed like a line holding the two points together. Spencer smirked. Perfect.

He only gave himself a moment to think about what he was doing and hope that he wasn't about to make a huge mistake. If he did, at least Peter was close enough to catch him. Spencer counted on that – it was terrifying to realize just how much he believed he could count on Peter – and then he gripped tightly to the bit of energy in his hand, anchored it to the ceiling, and then let go.

His body swung down like a pendulum while his feet stayed anchored to the ceiling. It was a rush – literally. All the blood rushed to his head and he flung his hands out to steady himself. Down below, he heard Tony curse, and he could feel the man moving closer as if somehow bracing to catch if Spencer started to fall. At the same time, he watched just up ahead as Peter shifted his weight like he, too, was ready to try and catch him. It all made Spencer want to grin. Though, that could've been because of hos strange his head felt, hanging like this. "How on earth do you do this so constantly? If left to your own devices, you spend more time upside-down than right-side-up."

"It doesn't really bother me?" Peter gave a casual shrug. As if to prove it – just as Spencer wanted – he hopped back up to the ceiling and let himself hang there. It brought him just the tiniest bit closer.

Spencer lifted his hands and gathered up the energy that he'd been holding there. It was lit so that the other two could actually see it. Before Peter could blink, Spencer flung his hands forward, letting two whipcords of energy go flying out. His aim wasn't great, and Peter's reflexes were fast. One of the cords missed while the other caught him more out of luck than anything else, wrapping around one of Peter's ankles even as he jumped. Spencer reminded himself one last time that Peter would catch him if he started to fall. Then he wrapped both hands around the energy cord and yanked as hard as he could.

The sound that Peter made was one that Spencer would tease him mercilessly for later.

Even as the teen shot through the air, he was already twisting his body. Spencer barely had time to prepare before he was caught by Peter's feet right in his gut, sending the both of them flying.

Peter made as if to catch him, only to get beat to the punch by Spencer's arm wrapping around his waist. Spencer's other hand shot out and he called up the very energy he'd just used to wall climb. He reached out to the nearest wall and then pulled until the charge between his palm and the wall were grabbing at one another, yanking Spencer and his cargo in close. They hit with a thud that had the both of them grunting. Spencer immediately shifted the arm that was around Peter until he could press that palm flat against the wall, anchoring it as well, and his knee jammed down between Peter's legs. His whole body pinned the teen to the wall and his charge guaranteed that nothing would break free.

It left the two of them face to face. Both of them were grinning, and both were panting. "I do believe I won this round."

Peter laughed and nodded his head. "No shit, man. That was awesome!"

"Do you two mind getting down from there before you actually manage to give me heart attack?"

The sound of Tony's voice reminded them of their audience. Two heads turned to look down at the exact same time. They found Tony standing a little ways away, hands on his hips and a glare on his face. Whereas Spencer couldn't help reaching out to test his emotions and try to find out just how annoyed Tony really was, Peter actually laughed. He patted Spencer's arm, a signal that it was okay and to let go all rolled in to one. "Sure thing, Mr. Stark!"

Spencer called up a platform under their feet before he let go of the wall. Once they were steady on it he flew them down to the ground. By the time they were standing on solid ground again they were right in front of Tony and he'd crossed his arms over his chest to look down at the two of them. Spencer shuffled a little, not quite sure what to make of this. For all that he'd gotten to know the man the past week, he didn't know him well enough to know how he'd react. There was annoyance clear in his emotions, as well as worry, relief, and some amusement.

While Spencer was trying to watch carefully, Peter was beyond that. He spun on Spencer as soon as they were steady and told him again "That was awesome! How did you do it? I mean, I get that you like, used the grip we just discovered to hold us against the wall, but how'd you draw us in like that?"

Spencer snuck a look at Tony, who was just watching him now with a raised eyebrow like he wanted the answer too, and then he looked back at Peter. "I, uh," Bringing his hands together, Spencer clasped one in the other, thumb pressing against his palm while his other fingers rubbed against the back of his hand. "It's the same theory as the wall-climbing. It's electrostatic attraction, just on a greater distance. I reached out to make the connection like I would for climbing, creating a sort of a, a tether between the wall and my hand. Once the connection was made, it was simply a matter of drawing the two points towards one another." The more he spoke, the more confident his voice became.

Tony opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by Peter eagerly saying "Dude, it was awesome. We need to test how far that works! Did you like, strain at all to do it, or was it just easy? Can you do it with any surface? Or even a person? Oh! You should totally test it on me." That said, Peter stepped back and spread his arms.

Almost instantly, Tony reached out and pushed Peter's arms back down. "Woah there, cowboy. Didn't we just discuss not giving me a heart attack? We're not randomly testing some electrical powers on your body. Are you insane?" He paused and a pained look crossed his face. "Is this what Rhodey feels like? God, this has got to be what Rhodey feels like." His pained expression shifted into one of annoyance that was belied by the warmth of his emotions. Letting go of Peter, he lifted a hand and pointed a finger first at Peter, then Spencer, then back at Peter. "Stop it – both of you. You're making me be the responsible one here and that's just ridiculous. Everyone knows I'm not the responsible one!"

"I wouldn't let my charge hurt him!" Spencer insisted almost immediately, at the same time that Peter said "It's for science, Tony! For science!"

Tony brought his hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "You finally call me Tony, and of course it's when you're whining at me for something." He dropped his head down and his expression was one that Spencer was familiar with. He'd seen it on Derek's face enough times to recognize it even on someone else. Fondness mixed in with exasperation. "I think you two are worse than Bruce and me. You're like, Science Bros 2.0." Tony chuckled at them. Little crinkles were at the corners of his eyes and something warm came from him, like spiced cider on a cold day, sweeping through Spencer. "Come on then, mini science bros. Let's go do this right."

"Mini science bros?" Spencer repeated, giving him a curious look.

Peter, on the other hand, was beaming, his whole being just lit up with such honest and open pleasure at those simple words. "Where are we going, Mr. Stark?"

"No, nuh-uh." Tony jabbed a finger into Peter's shoulder and then reached up and flicked the tip of his nose. "If you can call me Tony when you're whining at me, you can do it everywhere else. As for where we're going – we're gonna do this right, with real test equipment."