Chapter Text
Peter was in the lab as usual, waiting for Tony to be finished in a meeting. Harley wouldn't be here for another hour and he was getting bored. Tony says he's going through another one of his 'phases'. Desperate for answers he isn't getting from Tony or May, Peter goes to find Wanda.
"Hey, Scarlet! You can read minds, right?"
The redhead looks up from her book in surprise. "Uh, yeah, but people don't normally go looking for that. Is everything alright?"
"Not quite. You know when Mr Barnes describes how his memory has gaps in it because of Hydra and the brain wipe thing? I have that same feeling of constantly thinking that I'm missing something. It's like when you forget to put your jewelry back on before going out—you feel wrong without it. I feel like that about my childhood. I need to know if you can get inside my head and unlock something." Peter explains, rambling slightly. Nobody has ever seen him this serious about anything.
"Yeah, I can try. What am I looking for?" Wanda sets her book aside.
"I can only remember grayish blue eyes and freckles. It's driving me crazy."
"Okay. I have your permission to do this, right? Once I'm inside your head, I can see everything—and I mean everything."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Go ahead." Peter sits down on the floor in front of her, taking a deep breath as Wanda accesses his mind.
She skips everything from the last five years, slowing down once she reaches the start of middle school. Nothing out of the ordinary. Back to elementary school. There's no school. Dark, damp corridors, labs with metal tables, chairs with restraints, everything branded with the Hydra insignia. At the center of those memories, watching from Peter's eyes behind reinforced glass, is a redheaded girl his exact age. Her blue eyes and freckles stand out under the harsh light coming from the singular bulb above her. Before Wanda can find out her identity, she's forced out of Peter's mind.
Both teens are panting, collapsed on the floor. Wanda doesn't speak immediately, the girl's young, terrified eyes burned into her mind.
"So? What did you see?"
"The girl you described. Your Spider-Sense forced me out before I could learn her name. There was another girl, slightly older, blonde. In your peripheral. You were all terrified." Wanda could still feel little Peter's fear, even now.
"Where were we that we were so scared?" Peter asks.
Wanda hesitates before telling him the truth; "Hydra."
"Maximoff, what are you telling my kid now?! Trying to scare him?!" Tony yells as he barges into the room.
Wanda flinches slightly, not daring to sit up yet. Peter, on the other hand, jumps to his feet and stands in front of Wanda protectively. "Mr Stark, wait! Before you get mad at her, you need to know that I asked her. I told her to go inside my mind because I wanted answers you couldn't give me. If you're going to be mad at anyone, it should be me."
"Peter, what answers could the witch possibly have that I don't?" Tony scoffs.
"The girl I can't fully remember, where I came from, who my parents were, why I know how far away someone has to be from Wanda for her to be unable to read their mind, my strange connection to mint chip ice cream. Wanda can get inside my head and unlock memories I didn't know I had. You can't."
Tony actually stops, all anger fading away. Peter was right about this. "We'll talk later. Harley's waiting in your room. And Maximoff? I'm sorry for yelling."
Peter turns around and helps Wanda sit up. "Thank you for helping me. I think I remember her face now. I'll try find answers myself. If I can't, I'll find you. You're a good person and an even better friend."
"No problem. Go say hi to your boyfriend. I'm gonna go meditate." Wanda smiles, still somewhat uneasy.
Peter smiles back, standing up and heading to his room where a certain dirty blond, dust-covered Tennessee boy was leaning against the wall, a smirk on his face. "Hey, pretty boy."
"God, I missed you so much." Peter says as he runs across the room, kissing Harley like there's no tomorrow.
Finally the boys pull apart to breathe, Peter's arms still around Harley's neck, Harley's hands on Peter's waist.
"It's been too long since we done that. Why do you have to live in a whole other state?" Peter pouts.
"We've been over this, darlin'. Abbey needs me."
"Tony would let her live here. Surely Avenegers Tower is better than your mom."
"That is true. And she does want to come. Our mom is holding disownment over our heads and Abbey is terrified, so I can't move her yet. She's only ten."
"I get it." Peter sighs.
Harley picks up on the mood shift immediately. "Hey, what's wrong? Somethin' on your mind?"
"Just you talking about Abbey got me thinking about something I've been wondering for a while." Peter's eyes drift to the faded scrunchy on his nightstand. He's had it as long as he can remember but not knowing why. All he knows is that it means something.
"The girl with the blue eyes?" Harley asks.
"Yeah. Wanda got something of an answer for me. We were trapped in a Hydra facility together as kids. There was another girl too. I'm trying to remember but I can't." Peter runs his hands through his hair in frustration.
"Maybe if you talked me through what you know, more will come to you."
"Alright." Peter lets Harley guide him to the bed, sitting down beside him. "My dad was Richard Parker, a scientist. I don't know my mom but she's presumably dead too. I was raised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Ben died four years ago and was my dad's brother. Aunt May moved to Italy for work and Tony adopted me. I met Ned in middle school, that's when my proper memories start. Before that it's hazy and in pieces. The girl with the blue eyes and freckles. Thanks to Wanda, I know a little more. She's my age with red hair. We knew each other and a blonde girl a few years older than us. We were in a Hydra facility all our childhood. I got out but I don't know how or why. Before Hydra, we liked mint chocolate chip ice cream."
"That's good, that's a start. That's much more than you thought you knew."
"Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I knew their names so I could at least figure out if they're still alive."
Somewhere, across the city, a girl feels a connection ripple through her mind.