Chapter Text
“And here we have… another silverware!” Rhodey exclaimed with fake enthusiasm as he held up the set. “This time real silver.”
“Oh goodie,” Tony matched the fake tone, plastering a fake smile on his face “just what I always wanted!” The smile slipped off his face immediately after the words left his mouth. “You can put it on the pile with the other silverware!”
The whole living room was full of torn wrapping paper, bags and several piles of wedding gifts the team was sorting through. Peter never thought he would see such odd combinations. Aside from about fifteen sets of silverware, there were several guns – that Peter steered clear of, even if others admired the craftsmanship – some exquisite vases and pottery, a literal golden toilet seat, car keys to a rare car and someone even gave them an alpaca. Gerald, as he was named, was roaming the outside and in Tony’s words no doubt pooped all over the place.
But Peter knew his dad would come to like the alpaca.
Eventually.
Some guests already left. Some remained behind, no doubt to discuss business. Peter did his best to purge those thought from his mind. Though he wouldn’t admit it, the longer he stayed here, some… not so nice memories of this place started to resurface. He pushed them back.
Still, Peter knew he could push those thoughts away only for so long. The small waves he sent back will pile up and he’ll without a doubt end up being swept away by a giant tsunami.
That, however, was a problem for future Peter.
Pushing the wave back once more, Peter grabbed another gift. This one was wrapped in thick brown paper that hid sturdy-looking box. Peter shook it slightly, trying to figure out what was inside. No sound came from it.
Peter placed the box on his lap, opened it and promptly froze.
“Have they received our little gift?” the man asked.
“Affirmative. But sir, may I ask why—”
The man held up his hand. “To get them where I want, they need a little… push.” And it wouldn’t be the only one.
“Uh, guys?” Peter asked with a slight tremble in his voice, his hands hovering above the box. Logically, he knew what he was looking at, but the set-off timer triggered both his fight and flight reaction, resulting in freeze. It started on five minutes. Now it was on four minutes and forty-five seconds.
Sitting the closest, Natasha shuffled over to see what had caused her nephew’s face to pale. It took her exactly five seconds to burst out laughing. “Oh my God,” she wheezed, clutching her sides as she doubled over.
Peter looked at her like she grew another head. There was a bomb on his lap and she was laughing?!
“Bucky… Bucky… come look at this,” she managed to get out before doubling over once again. “Oh, this is good.”
Bucky threw yet another silverware set on the silverware pile and walked over. When his eyes landed on the bomb, he snorted. “That’s gotta be the words design I’ve even seen.”
“What is that?” Clint asked.
Natasha waved him over and took the box from Peter’s lap. Peter was glad to let it go. The reaction got everyone curious, so they ended up huddled around Natasha.
“Huh, that really is a shitty design,” Tony muttered.
“Uh, am I the only one concerned that there is a bomb in the living room?” Peter said, glad he succeeded to keep his voice from rising an octave. This was crazy. This was dangerous! How could they all laugh and not be worried about it?
Natasha shook her head and wiped the tear from her eye. “No, because look,” she pointed to the wires and numbers. “They practically left us the manual on how to disable it. Steve, bring me one of the silverware boxes that had those meat scissors. It’s about to become handy.”
Peter held his breath the whole time as Natasha cut the wires while explaining the whole process to Peter. “See? This one,” she pointed to the red wire, “goes here,” she pointed to number three. “So we need to find which one goes to number one.”
It was almost like he was in school and a teacher was explaining something new to him – except this time, Peter wanted to run instead of absorbing the knowledge. He held back his flinches every time a wire got cut.
Blue, yellow, red, white, green and black. The timer stopped at three minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
Tony took in Peter’s wide eyes and the slight quiver of his fingers. “And that’s it for the game!” he clapped his hands.
Peter turned to look at him. “G-game?”
Thankfully with his attention on Tony, Peter didn’t notice the looks of confusion on the team’s face.
“Yep,” Tony said, taking another glance at the bomb. “It’s a little tradition in our circles. Every time someone is getting married, someone gets picked to plant a “bomb” into the gifts, and then we have to disable it.” The lie came easy from his mouth. He just prayed that Peter would believe him.
“Whoever got it did a pretty lousy job, I’ll tell you that,” Sam muttered, adding to the lie. His casual tone helped to smooth the lines of doubt on Peter’s forehead.
“Okay,” the boy exhaled, then stood up on shaky legs. “I guess I just got spooked.”
Tony ruffled his hair. “It’s okay. We forgot to tell you.”
“I,” Peter pointed to the doorway, “I think I’m gonna get some fresh air.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Tony made a show of looking at the clock. “When is the meeting?” he asked.
“Uh, in about an hour,” Steve supplied.
Tony nodded. “Okay. Peter?” he called out before his son could disappear. Peter turned to face him. “What would you say to a little change of sparring partner?”
“Sparring… I have to train today too?”
“Well, why not to take advantage of Okoye being here? She’s a skilled hand-to-hand fighter. She could teach you a move or two.”
Peter’s eyes widened as he spun and speed-walked out of the room. No way he was fighting with Okoye. He’s heard things. “Bye!”
The room fell silent for a minute.
“Good thinking. With the game, I mean” Rhodey said.
Pepper let out a shuddering breath. “So… someone just tried to blow us up.”
“I don’t think so,” Natasha said as she examined the bomb closer. “The timer was set to about five minutes and it was easy to disable.”
“Too easy,” Bucky nodded.
“I think it was more of a warning. But from whom?” she mused.
Tony ran his hand down his face. “Jarvis, call others. Tell them we’re moving the meeting twenty minutes early.” He turned to Natasha. “That was a good thinking too. The laughing.”
“Oh, that was mostly genuine reaction. That bomb was terrible. But I had to exaggerate. For Peter.”
Clint blew a raspberry. “He got quite a scare.”
“The spar with Okoye will do him good, he won’t have the time to think about it. He’s smart. Eventually, we can become predictable to him,” Sam said.
Tony didn’t know if self-defense skills would be any good against a bomb, but it was at least something. Again, Peter got endangered because of Tony’s lifestyle.
“Whoever sent this, I will find them, even if they are hiding in the deepest corner of hell.” A round of agreement passed through the room before Tony picked up another box. “Let’s get through this pile until the meeting starts. I don’t want another nasty surprise.”
After bumping into Pietro outside, Peter got told to go behind one of the buildings if he wanted to hang out with his new friends. Seeing no harm in it, Peter headed to the building in question while Pietro said he had to get something from the inside first.
“Hey, guys,” Peter greeted the two girls sitting on the grass, exactly where they were supposed to be. No prank – unlike that one time in middle school. It was a bit strange to have more friends now than Ned and MJ, but it was something he could get used to very quickly. “Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” Wanda smiled at him, warm as ever.
“My favorite memer is always welcomed,” Shuri said and patted the ground next to her. Peter accepted the offered space and sat down, letting out a long breath in the process.
Wanda’s forehead wrinkled as she took a closer look at Peter. “Are you alright?” she asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Wow. Was it that obvious? Not really feeling like sitting anymore, he let his back hit the grass. “Just got scared the living shit out of me,” he shook his head, “otherwise fine.”
Shuri chuckled. “By what? They set up a sparring match between you and Okoye?”
“No.” Peter paused. “Well, yeah actually, that too—”
“Oof.”
“—but that happened after the scare.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Wanda offered. “If not, that’s perfectly fine. No pressure.”
Before Peter could even consider whether he wanted to talk about it or not, Pietro appeared from around the corner, carrying four bottles of champagne for kids. “If we’re having deep conversations, this could come in handy,” he grinned and sat down next to his twin.
With an involuntary smile on his face, Peter sat up and reached for the bright red bottle. Shuri took the yellow one, Wanda the dark red one and Pietro was left with the blue one. A pop of the cap, a hiss of bubbles and clinking of the bottles later, Peter took a big swing of the sparkling drink – which turned out to be a mistake. The bubbles rushed to his nose with a vengeance, making him grimace.
“Slow down or we’ll have to carry you back inside,” Piero said over the laughter. “What would your father think if he saw you wasted?”
“The only thing getting wasted are my teeth from all that sugar,” Peter replied.
Once another round of laughter subsided, Shuri spoke again. “So, what was scarier than a sparring with Okoye?”
Peter fell silent. He liked Shuri, Pietro and Wanda, and from the look of it, they liked him too. They could understand if he told them. They’ve been practically raised in this environment, whereas he’s been here for about two months, so hopefully they wouldn’t laugh at him.
“There was a bomb in one of the gifts.”
Shuri almost spat out a mouthful of the “champagne”. She turned to face him fully, a look of absolute glee on her face. “Tell me who opened it.”
What?
Confusion showed on his face. “Uh, I did.”
Now it was Shuri’s turn to look confused. “You don’t look like you had a glitter bomb explode in your face.”
Again – what?
“Shuri, you didn’t,” Wanda giggled behind her hand.
“Glitter?” Peter echoed.
That didn’t seem right. From what he knew, glitter bombs exploded immediately upon opening when done right and as far as he knew, timers wouldn’t be practical for that. Something wasn’t adding up here. He needed more information.
“Was it packed in a brown paper?” he asked.
Shuri’s eyebrows drew together and that was all the confirmation Peter needed. “No. I wrapped it in yellow with orange dots.”
“The one I opened was packed in brown. It had a timer for five minutes and some wires on the outside.” He saw the realization dawn on others. “Natasha laughed when she saw that. Something about a horrible design,” he added as an afterthought – if to calm himself or them, he didn’t know. “They said something about it being a tradition. Do you know anything about it?”
Pietro shrugged and looked at Wanda for help. “Not that I know of,” she said. “They don’t force us into anything and don’t share any information that isn’t necessary for us. Like what or who to watch out for and stuff. I guess this could be one of those things.”
“Adults are weird like that,” Shuri added.
Huh. That was good to know. He was already told that he wouldn’t be forced into anything, but it was good to have it confirmed from a third party. So, on 85 percent, he could write it off as a weird tradition.
“Yeah, I can see how a thing like that can scare the crap out of you,” Pietro said, “but hey! At least you didn’t die.”
“Pietro!” Wanda frowned and lightly hit his arm.
“What?” he asked, innocently. “I lived, didn’t I?”
Peter looked between the twins, taking in their reactions and posture. Pietro was more laid back, while Wanda’s mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Am I missing something?” He was pretty sure he was missing something.
“Sadly, I died,” Pietro sighed before sitting up straight and exclaiming, “but I lived!” Nope, Peter still wasn’t following. Pietro deflated a little. He was using the humor to cope, Peter knew that. It took one to recognize one. “Gunshot wound. A few years ago, there was this guy – Ultron or whatever – and… you know how these things with power-hungry maniacs go. If it wasn’t for Barton, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Again, wow. Peter had no idea how to comprehend that piece of info. His uncle Clint has… Like, sure, they had saved him too, but it didn’t make it less crazy. He couldn’t imagine himself getting shot. “Oh. That must’ve been awful,” Peter said. “Not that I would know. I only almost died.”
“The Beck stuff,” Shuri commented.
“The Beck stuff,” Peter nodded. He didn’t like to think about those times, he had enough of that in his nightmares. And from he could see, nobody was very comfortable with the topic. Especially Wanda. Peter was an only child, so he didn’t know what exact emotions she was feeling, but he imagined it was close to how he’d felt when his aunt and uncle—
No. How could the conversation go so wrong? It was going so well just a few minutes ago.
This wouldn’t do.
He had to fix that.
“What color did you use?” Peter asked after a moment, breaking the heavy silence. “For the glitter bomb?”
Shuri grinned from ear to ear. “Obnoxious pink.”
The conversation resumed into normal after that until a jingle of a collar could be heard. Friday rounded the corner and immediately went to lick Peter’s face.
“Well, look at them,” Tony crossed his arms over his chest as he took in the group. Rhodey and a few others were right at his heels. “Hiding behind a building like some delinquents drinking cheap booze. Take it from me kids, don’t drink your life away.”
Pietro lifted the bottle. “Only the good stuff.” Peter took a long sip while maintaining eye contact, the corners of his lips curling upwards just a tiny bit.
It wasn’t until Bucky and Sam, the former covered in pink glitter more than the latter, that the group of teens completely lost it. By the stink eye the two were sending Shuri, it was safe to assume they knew who the culprit was.
Tony clapped his hands together. “Well, sorry to ruin your fun, but I believe it’s time for your spar.” Okoye walked up to him, smirking at Peter.
Shuri, as the good friend she was, patted Peter’s shoulder. “Rest in peace. You’ll be missed.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Okoye said, her voice fully indicating she was enjoying herself. “When Stark said your, he meant that collectively.” Peter watched as the others tensed at the words, their bodies moving into positions like they were ready to bolt. He prepared to run too. “You all could benefit from some training with a new opponent,” she finished.
All was silent for a moment. Then, Shuri slammed the bottle down and yelled, “Scatter!”
That was all Peter needed to hear. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it three steps before Thor threw him over his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, Peter saw Bucky doing the same to Shuri, probably getting his revenge by getting some of the glitter on her clothes. Clint was holding up Wanda lion king-style while Steve gave a chase after Pietro.
Friday just looked excited to be there.
“Play dead!” Shuri yelled, and for some reason, Peter obeyed and went limp in the hold.
“That won’t work, little Stark,” Thor said.
“Damn.”
“Pietro lasted the longest since he ran the fastest, but in the end, Steve caught him,” Peter told Ned and MJ as he later recounted the events of the wedding. Sans the whole bomb thing, of course.
“Hm. Busy weekend,” MJ commented.
“Yeah.”
“Tell us more about Gerald.”