Happy Sunday!

This chapter is for the lovely Snowecat as thanks for being a wonderful friend recently.

Mechanics

Steve bit his lip to stop himself laughing as Peter came out of the bathroom in his coveralls, which pooled around his ankles and hung past his hands.

"They're a little big," Peter conceded.

"Only a little?"

Peter glared at him, though his eyes showed his amusement.

"Okay," Steve said, clapping his hands. "Are you ready to start?"

Peter nodded eagerly. "More than ready."

"And you're sure Bucky doesn't mind us doing this?"

"Not even a little," Peter said. "He said it'd be good for us to have a project, since he and I have plenty in the Soul Plane, and we did all the engine together."

"Okay, good."

Steve missed his best friend more than he could say, but he knew Bucky was happy where he was. Peter spent a lot of time there with him and the others, and he shared stories both ways. Bucky knew what everyone that survived was doing, and Peter filled them all in on happenings in the Soul Plane.

Apparently, Shuri was trying to discover more about the Stones, but it wasn't going well. Peter said she'd been confident her technology would do better than Tony's had when he and Bruce had been investigating them, but it really wasn't. Peter was amused by it. He said he could tell her anything she wanted to know about them, but Shuri wanted to discover it for herself. Peter also said he spent a lot of time with T'Challa, Sam, Wanda, and Vision, watching movies and exploring Wakanda.

Though they had not known Vision would be snapped away, too, Steve knew it was the best possible outcome for both him and Wanda. If Vision had lived and Wanda died, he would have suffered for five long years without her.

The fact they had saved Vision was incredible to Steve. They'd hoped they could, but there had been no guarantees. And more, thanks to Peter, Vision had a human body that would change and age with Wanda. Wanda would not come back to a world without Vision and languish until Peter brought him back. When Wanda came back, Vision would, too.

"Okay," Steve said, turning his mind to the task at hand. "The engine is done, thanks to Bucky, but we've got to get the bodywork up the scratch now. Which means sanding down and treating the rust."

Peter nodded eagerly. "Do I get to use one of those cool sanding machines or do you want me to use Spidey force?"

Steve knew they could get the work done in a couple hours if they used their hands, as they could not tire with the effort the way a normal human would, but he didn't want to deny Peter the fun of using the automatic sander.

"You get to use a machine."

Peter bounced on the balls of his feet, filled with childish excitement. "Awesome!"

Steve went to the counters where all the tools were and picked up the bulky sander. He checked the battery and found it full then carried it back to Peter who reached for it eagerly.

"Is there anything I need to know?" he asked, examining the machine with a curious eye.

"Just don't press down too hard. The machine will do the work for you. Now, you turn it on—"

Peter found the button on his own and pressed it. The sander whirred to life, and Peter beamed. "Awesome." He positioned it over the hood where the pitting was worst, and eased the sander down then ran it in circles, humming to himself contentedly.

Steve watched him, pleased by Peter's enjoyment of the task, confident he knew what he was doing and wasn't going to create any mischief with the machine.

There wasn't anything for him to do but keep an eye on Peter, and then, when they reached the bulbous rims, to sand them by hand on the creases where the machine couldn't reach. Peter seemed to be enjoying himself, and Steve enjoyed watching. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with Peter as there had never been enough, not with either version of Peter. He did miss Bucky's presence with them, but he knew there was an end date for that absence, which they were all holding on to.

Peter was just smoothing the roof, balanced on a ladder, when Steve heard footsteps coming behind them. He turned to see Clint and Natasha. Clint was smiling widely at Peter, and as Peter noticed them and turned the machine off, he asked, "Don't they make coveralls in junior size, Pete?"

Peter narrowed his eyes at him. "I may be small, but I can still kick your ass."

Clint snorted. "Sure, squirt."

A wicked smile curled Peter's lip. "Fine, make fun of me, but I'm telling Laura."

Natasha's eyes glinted. "You should absolutely do that, Peter."

"Oh, I will," he said.

"How is she?" Clint asked eagerly, the threat forgotten with the prospect of news of his wife and children.

Peter smiled. "She's good, really good. They all are."

"What have they been doing?" Clint aske, his need to know more, to bridge the gap between himself and his family clear in his voice.

Peter set the machine down and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, Lila is still teaching me archery, which is a lot of fun. She's kinda tough on me, because I'm still not that good, but I am learning. And me and Cooper are going to war on Mario Kart. He gets a lot more time to practice than I do, since I'm here and there and stuff, but I'm catching up." He smirked. "And he's way better at it than you."

"And Nate?" Clint asked, eyes a little wet though his smile was wide.

Peter grinned. "He's my Lego Buddy. Obviously, me and Soul can pretty much create anything we want without copyright lawsuits, so we're crossing franchises. We made a Mario Kart Rainbow Road course kit yesterday, which he loved."

"Laura?"

Peter rubbed his stomach. "Man, she can cook! I'm afraid Sam's Aunt's lasagna now comes in second place, but you can't tell him. Though…" He frowned. "Well, is it usual to sneak green beans into the sauce?"

Clint grinned, hand over his heart and eyes misty.

"No," Natasha answered. "But the kids don't like eating their vegetables, so she has to sneak them in where she can."

"Ahh, that makes sense," Peter said. "It's really good, though. And her cakes…"

Natasha smiled and said. "Do you remember the welcome home cakes, Clint?"

Clint frowned, "Do I what?"

Natasha shook her head. "No, you wouldn't. It's not happened for you yet. But after Peter brought me back, they made three welcome home cakes for me. They were really for them, but they wouldn't admit it."

"Thank you, Pete," Clint said, heartfelt. "Hearing about them helps. Tell them I love them and that I miss them."

"I will," Peter promised. "And they miss you, too. But they're okay—happy as they can be. And it's only a matter of time."

"I'm counting the days," Clint said solemnly.

Peter smiled, but Steve saw his eyes were a little distant. To them, they were counting the days to the return of the people they loved and the end of this long journey to make sure Peter lived. But for Peter, it was a countdown to finding out if he was Worthy or not. They all had faith he would be, apart from Peter.

But Steve knew he was going to live, and so was Bucky. Steve was not going to lose the two most important people in his world.

"So, have you picked a color scheme for the car yet?" Natasha asked, perhaps seeing Peter's abstraction and wanting to bring him back to the room.

"No, I'm still looking at paint chips."

"What about red and blue?" Clint suggested. "You could deck it out with Spider-Man gear."

Natasha rolled her eyes and muttered, "Idiot."

Peter was kinder. "As much as I'd love that, I managed to avoid having my identity revealed to the world when the media took my side and cut coverage, and none of them have bucked the press embargo Ellis passed, so I think I'll keep the connections between Peter Parker and Spider-Man to a minimum."

"They probably wouldn't notice anyway," Clint said. "I've seen webs rims and Spider-Man hood ornaments on the roads."

Peter's eyebrows flew up. "Seriously?"

Clint nodded. "Yep. You're a star."

"Well, that's weird," Peter muttered.

"You could probably sue," Natasha said. "Pepper didn't have you sign off on car modifications copyright, did she?"

"I don't think so," Peter said. "But I don't need to sue. Thanks to the merchandise we did authorize, I can pay my way through college no worries."

Steve clapped him on the shoulder. "Queens, I know how much you got. You could pay your way through as many PHDs as Bruce if you wanted."

"How is Bruce?" Peter asked in answer.

"He's holed up in a lab in Massachusetts," Steve said. "He's having trouble making the shift into dual being. Hulk knows what he's trying to do, and he's not happy. It's slowing Bruce down."

Peter sighed. "That sucks, but he will get it done. His Snap is locked, and Hulk is a huge part of him being able to do that."

"You know why Hulk is slowing him down, don't you?" Clint asked.

"Uh… no?"

Clint rolled his eyes. "Hulk doesn't want to lose his Peter time."

"Oh. But he won't," Peter said. "Hulk and Bruce are one in the future. It's not like Bruce takes over and Hulk disappears. They're both present."

"Yeah, but Hulk doesn't know that," Steve said. "Bruce doesn't even know it, since he's not seen and done it yet."

"Then someone needs to tell him," Natasha said. "I'll make a trip this weekend. I'll make it clear to them both that it's not an all or nothing deal."

Peter nodded. "Yeah, he needs to know. I don't want Hulk fighting Bruce, making it harder for him, and I don't want Hulk thinking he's going to be cancelled out. That'd be scary as hell."

Steve smiled fondly. He'd never thought of Hulk being scared, because what was there for Hulk to be scared of? But he saw now that it was probably hell for Hulk to think he was just going to disappear forever and leave Bruce in control. He'd not only lose Peter, whom he loved, but he'd lose himself.

If Natasha could make it clear Hulk would be half of the balance, he would be reassured. And then, hopefully, he'd let Bruce get on with his work.

So… I hope you enjoyed the little Avengers time sprinkled among the Morgan.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx