Happy Sunday - especially to Death Fury for being wonderful x

Driving Lessons

Peter bounced out of the compound, the curls of his too long hair bouncing and his rainbow eyes shining with excitement.

"I am ready!" he said, coming to a stop in front of Tony and Steve. "I've watched the videos, I've read the manual—"

"You know, Queens, driving is more of a doing than reading thing," Steve interjected.

Tony rolled his eyes. "True, but Peter is an academic, not a creative like you, so book learning is where you always start."

Peter nodded and then said, "He's got a point, though. I didn't learn much from the book. I mean, yeah, I know the technical aspects, and you know I could rebuild the engine again after all you and Bucky taught me, but I want to get my hands on the wheel and…" He rocked his hands from side to side as though spinning an invisible steering wheel.

"Vroom-vroom?" Tony suggested with a grin.

"Yep," Peter said cheerfully.

"Well, I'm ready to go," Tony said.

"Not quite," Peter said.

Tony frowned and then looked over his shoulder and followed Peter's eyeline to see his daughter towing Pepper towards them with a look of single-minded determination. As Tony had left Pepper and Morgan on their way into the forest for a nature walk to collect leaves for a collage, Tony was a little confused about what had happened.

However, when they were within hearing distance it all slipped into place. "Petey, I'm going to sit on your lap," Morgan declared.

"Uh… no you're not," Peter said, taken off guard. "Absolutely not."

Morgan's eyes widened with shock and then became sad. Since Peter rarely, if ever, refused her anything, this was a big change for her.

Peter's face fell into lines of sadness, too, and he said, "I'm sorry, Mo. It's just… I've never driven before— Well, I drove once but I had Ned talking me through it and it didn't go that well. This could be dangerous."

She frowned. "Why dangerous? Mommy and Daddy drive all the time. And Uncle Happy and Uncle Rhodey. We even drove here today, and Mommy was singing with us and driving, and it wasn't dangerous."

"Because I don't know how to drive properly. It's kinda a skill you have to learn and until you learn it's a little bit dangerous."

"But I don't want you and Daddy in the car if it's dangerous," Morgan said, brow furrowing.

Tony decided he should intervene before Morgan developed a phobia of cars. "Your brother is being overly cautious. He's going to be perfectly safe, I promise, but he can't have distractions in the car, and if you're in the car, he'll absolutely be distracted."

"I can be good," Morgan said. "I won't distract him."

Peter knelt down and held his arms open to Morgan, who walked into them and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I know you won't distract me on purpose, Mo, but since you're my favorite little sister in the whole world, I'm always distracted by you because I love you so much and always want to be with you, but I really have to focus on this." He eased her away from him and stroked back her hair. "But I promise, once I have my license and I'm good for passengers, me and you will go for a drive in my car."

"Your car that you made with your own hands?" Morgan asked.

Peter laughed. "Is that what you think? No, I didn't make it with my own hands, it was made in a factory, but me and Uncle Steve worked on it lots with Uncle Bucky to make the engine work and to fix up the bodywork, so we did a little making, I guess."

"You made it," she said, nodding. "And I like it. I like it better than Daddy's truck and Mommy's car. I even like it better than Aunt Natasha's car."

Peter blew out a breath. "That's big. Natasha's car is incredible."

Morgan nodded eagerly. "Yep. Okay, you go learn to drive in your special car then you'll know how, and we can go on our special drives together."

Peter nodded and kissed her cheek. She beamed and then held her hand out to Pepper and said, "We can go find leaves now."

Pepper huffed a laugh. "Oh, can we? Okay then, Miss."

They wandered off toward the forest, turning back just before they disappeared into the trees and waving.

"Okay," Tony said. "In you get."

Peter walked around to the passenger side and opened the door, then stopped, brow furrowed, and said, "Oops. Nope." He waved a hand at them as Steve and Tony laughed and came to the driver's side and climbed in.

It was strange for Tony to see Peter behind the wheel but also good. This was a big step in Peter's life, and he was happy he was here to be a part of it. Ever since Peter came into his life all those years ago, once he got past the block and started seeing him as family, he'd imagined things like this—teaching Peter to drive, taking him out for his first beer, seeing his graduation.

He may not get the graduation anymore, and Peter had already had his first beer without Tony being there, and he hadn't enjoyed it so probably wouldn't want another, but Tony could teach him to drive.

Tony took the shotgun seat, leaving Steve to slip into the back. They put on their seatbelts, which were an addition Steve and Bucky had made, as seatbelts hadn't been fitted as standard when this car was made, and Tony shifted to the side so he could see Peter better.

Peter was beaming and patting his hands on the wheel, his rainbow eyes alight with excitement.

"Okay. Show me the gas," Tony said.

Peter placed his foot on the right pedal and pumped it.

"That's right, but lay off the pumping. This car is ancient and I'm not sure it's not going to fall apart if you knock it around too much."

"Hey!" Steve said from his place on the backseat.

Peter scowled. "This car is classic, and I know you have a garage full of classic cars, so you do know what that means."

Tony grinned. "I do. Sorry. I'll stop insulting your car."

"Thank you," Peter said sweetly.

"Show me the clutch," Tony said.

Peter tapped the pedal with the toe of his sneaker and said, "That one. Which makes this one…" he tapped the left pedal, "the brake. And my books said that's the most important one."

"The books are right," Steve said, sounding very much like one of the PSA's Peter had shown Tony.

Tony grinned and then gathered himself into seriousness and said, "Okay, the first thing to do is press down on the clutch…"

"Okay, Pete, you can give it a little more gas," Tony said.

"Are you sure? I feel like we're going fast enough already."

Steve smiled. "Queens, you're doing great, but you need to try a little more speed. Sure, five miles per hour is going to be fine in rush hour Manhattan, since you'll be going to war with cabs, but if you plan to drive between the compound and tower you need to handle going a little faster."

"I know, I know," Peter said. "I have driven faster. I told you about Flash's father's car, right? I'm pretty sure I got him a few tickets in it for speeding, but that was about getting to Mr. Toomes before he flew away with your plane of stuff."

"Pretend you're doing that again," Steve suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Tony said thoughtfully. "And remember you need to be able to drive a little faster if you're taking Morgan out for ice cream."

Peter scoffed. "If you think I'm going more than five miles per hour with Mo in the car you are very, very wrong."

"Pete, I get that you want to keep her safe, but she is never safer than when she's with you. You can drive because you've done it before. You just need to build up your confidence."

"Which I will do at a safe and steady pace," Peter replied.

Tony sighed. "Pete, were you scared when you flew for the first time?"

"Nope. " Peter said with a grin and the smallest compression of the gas, edging them up to fifteen miles per hour.

"Tell me about it," Tony prompted.

Peter grinned. "It's hard to explain, but you get it, right? I mean, you can fly in your suit."

"True, but I don't get the wind rushing through my hair. And Steve can't fly – tell him about it."

Peter pressed down on the gas a little more as he began. "Well, it's just total freedom, you can go anywhere and do anything." He pressed down a little more, edging them towards fifteen. "And when you're in space it's just… Wow. Like, when I found Loki, I was pretty much just going on a joyride. And space is endless. You never need to stop if you don't want to."

They'd reached fifty miles per hour and Peter was moving through the gears without even looking—the actions had become automatic, mindless, which was exactly what Steve thought Tony was aiming for.

"Okay, Pete, keeping in mind how good it feels to fly, look at the speedometer," Tony said gently.

Peter glanced down and his rainbow eyes widened. "Oh my god!"

"Do not slow down," Tony said firmly. "You are a good driver and do not need to panic. You've been doing this speed and changing gears without even noticing—that's what seasoned drivers do."

Peter looked startled, but he didn't slow them, and he started to smile after a while, taking a turn on the compound complex roadways with confident moves.

"This is cool," he said after a while.

"Not as cool as flying," Tony said.

"No, it's better, because it's real. I didn't grow up thinking about how one day I'd be able to fly, but I did grow up looking at cars and thinking one day I'd be able to drive. Like, my life is so far from what I expected but this… this is real. I'm learning to drive."

Tony scoffed. "Pete, you have learned to drive. Are you ready to try yourself on the roads?"

Peter frowned for a moment. "Yeah, sure." He took the turn toward the exit barrier and slowed to a stop, grinning when Friday, who monitored the access said, "Well done, Peter," as she opened the gate.

"Thanks, Fri," Peter said, and then added. "Shall we go get ice cream? We can bring some back for Mo."

"I think that's an excellent idea," Tony said. "I am in the mood for some cookie dough."

"I want a banana split," Steve said.

"Pensioner," Tony scoffed, and Peter laughed.

Steve didn't mind their teasing. He was actually really enjoying himself. Since the Snap and his return to their lives, Peter had been independent—the one in control that instructed the rest of them. But this, they'd taught him to drive, a rite of passage for any teenager, and it felt good.

Steve was happy that he got to share this moment, and also sad Bucky couldn't. However, it was only a matter of time until Bucky was back, they were all back.

Steve couldn't wait.

So… Peter is learning to drive. I can't drive. I asked for help before writing the chapter and I Googled, but my first attempt came off like a driving manual. I left everything I'd learned alone and came up with this. If there's mistakes, they're entirely my own.

Until next time…

Jadey xxx