Chapter Text
To say Peter’s had a rough year is an understatement.
It’s been a month since he lost May, a week since he almost died from the flu, and just hours after he lost some civilians during a fight gone wrong.
It’s been rough, and the others do everything they can to help him.
“I mean, the kid never even has friends over,” Steve said. “And he hardly goes out to hang out with them, either. It’s summer break and all he does is patrol and train.” Tony hummed as he typed away at his keyboard. “Tony? Are you listening?” He scrolled with his finger down the page? “Tony?”
“Is Bucky’s arm waterproof?” Tony asked.
“What?” he asked. “Tony, what--”
Tony only grinned.
Across the city, Peter face planted into his open notebook. Ned started balancing his binders on top of his head. “Maybe you shouldn’t have procrastinated on your summer work,” MJ said, unsympathetic.
Peter threw the binders back to Ned and huffed at the stack of papers in front of him. He massaged his wrist, sore from the writing he’s done all morning.
“I’m so stressed,” Peter whined, grabbing a fistful of his hair. He sipped on his frappuccino and sighed loudly. “This sucks.”
“We never learn,” he mumbled.
Michelle calmly sketched in her notebook, glancing up at Peter and Ned every now and then. Frowning, she erased frantically, blew on it, then grinned. “What’re you drawing?” Ned asked excitedly and pushed his English homework away. Michelle flipped her book around, so they could see the depressing drawing of the two of them hard at work. Something about the drawing unnerved Ned, and he hated looking at it. “Crikey.”
Michelle slammed her book down on the table. “You are juniors now. Stop acting like the freshmeat.”
“Seniors procrasinate,” Peter replied, giving her a careful eye. “Pretty much everyone does. Especially when homework is so boring!” He huffed, setting his chin on his folded arms. “This blows.”
“Peter, I--”
All of a sudden, Peter’s StarkWatch started beeping at him. He scrambled out of his chair and threw his stuff into his bag. Snatching his drink, he waved, “Sorry, I gotta go!” He cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered, “Code red.” He tapped on his watch frantically.
They waved back and watched him run into about five people on his way out. MJ turned to Ned, sipped her coffee, and asked, “How the hell does he manage to keep a secret identity?”
Ned shrugged. “He doesn’t.”
Peter, meanwhile, is scrambling across New York. He slips into his suit in an alleyway and makes a run for the compound. He swings until he’s flying through the air, eventually landing flat against the side of the compound. He waits for Friday to lift a window, then tumbles through.
He scrambles to join the others in the Quinjet 2.0. “Sorry, I’m late,” he panted, putting his hands on his knees. “What is it this time? Aliens? Is it Hydra? Oh, is it..” He stood up, and as soon as he saw the others not dressed in their combat attire, he trailed off. “What’s going on?”
“Surprise!” Tony cheered, but no one looked amused.
“You didn’t tell him?” Natasha asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“You do know what surprises are, don’t you?” he said, rolling his eyes. He gestured a thumb to her and shrugged to the others. “What’s up with her?” No one was smiling other than him.
“What’s happening?” Peter repeated, getting nervous. “Did something… What’s… Mr. Stark?”
“Calm down,” Pepper said cooly. She rested a hand against his back. “Nothing happened.”
Peter relaxed a little, but he was still confused. “Why isn’t anyone in their suit?”
“Where we’re going, you don’t need a suit,” Tony said, still grinning. “Well, maybe a swimsuit and having something nice for dinner wouldn’t hurt, but… No spider suit.”
“Where’s our next mission?” he asked. “Oh, are we going undercover? I’ve always wanted to go undercover. I already know what my name’s going to be. I--”
“We’re not going undercover,” Steve said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Where, then?”
“We’re going to Disney World!” Tony announced.
Peter gasped, putting a hand over his mouth. He sunk down into a seat and frowned. Looking like he was about to cry, Peter wiped at his eyes.
“Peter?” Tony asked, sitting next to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Who would attack Disney World? ” he exclaimed, hurt flashing in his eyes. “The happiest place on Earth? What has the world come to? Oh, no…”
“No, Disney World is okay, Peter,” Bucky said quickly.
“We’re going on a trip,” Tony said. “For the summer.”
“A trip?” he asked, sniffling. “To Disney?” He hopped out of the chair and grinned wide. “Oh my god, we’re going to Disney! Disney!”
“There we go,” he said, smirking. Tony put a hand on his hip and faced the others. “That was the reaction I was waiting for.”
“Oh, oh, oh, I gotta pack,” he said.
“No need,” Tony said, patting the side of the red suitcase on the jet. “I got everything you need in here.”
Peter grinned. “We’re going to Disney,” he says, falling in his chair. “Disney. Oh my god!”
It only took about thirty minutes of Peter bouncing off the walls for him to crash in his seat. The flight to Florida would only be a couple of hours, but it’s sort of mandatory to take a quick nap out of boredom.
Natasha kept herself busy with a novel. Clint was reading over her shoulder, but he didn’t look so interested. (He was really only scanning for naughty bits to make fun of her, but he wasn’t having much luck in the young adult novel.)
Steve, Bucky, and Sam were huddled around a laptop. “I’ve seen most,” Steve says. “I’ve seen that Brave movie a lot.” He pointed his thumb over at Clint.
“Disney owns mostly everything,” Tony said. “You’ve seen Star Wars, right?”
“Is that the one with the red, blue, and yellow shirts?” Bucky whispered.
“No, it’s the one Peter likes,” Tony replied. “We’re actually staying in a Star Wars resort, but that’s supposed to be a surprise.” He put a finger over his lips and glanced over at the sleeping teenager.
“I thought Peter liked Star Trek,” Pepper says suddenly, tapping the side of her face. “No, I’m pretty sure…”
“Pep, trust me, it’s Star Wars,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I know.”
She gave him an unsure look.
“What’s the suite look like?” Bruce asked, looking up from his book.
Tony grinned. “See, I knew you guys would have fun on this vacation,” he said, putting an arm around Bruce. “And you didn’t think you were going to go at first.”
“Well,” Bruce said, shrugging, “I thought Thor was going to be staying with us, but he had other stuff to do.” Was he… pouting?
Peter was stirring awake. At the mention of Thor’s name, he sat up. “Mr. Thor was going to come?”
“Yeah, but he had other stuff to do,” Bruce huffed.
“Boss, we are approaching a small storm,” Friday said suddenly. “I advise everyone return to their seats.” Pepper pulled Tony into a seat, and everyone else buckled up.
The quinjet hit a little bit of turbulence because of the storm, and when lightning struck, Bucky flinched. Steve rested a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll be okay.”
Peter took a seat next to Bucky’s free side. “Are you okay, Sergeant Barnes?”
“I’m not the biggest fan of heights,” he confessed, gripping the seats super tight.
“Oh, well, that’s okay. I can catch you,” Peter said. “And Mr. Stark flies.”
“You all brought your suits?” Pepper asked. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Better to be prepared,” Tony replied.
Peter rolled up his sleeve to show the webshooter on his wrist. “See? All good,” he consoled Bucky, but the lightning struck again.
This time, the entire ship shook. A loud thud sounded, and an alarm went off. Without warning, the door opened, and Thor appeared.
“Hello!” he greeted as the alarms blared. He shut the door and screwed the lock shut.
“Thor!” Bruce exclaimed, looking a little green. “You can’t do that!”
“Apologies,” he said, brushing his hair out of his face. His hair was in that awkward phase when you’re growing it out, but it’s not really that long. He’s not really a fan.
“At least you made it okay,” Bruce said, smiling a little as Thor took a seat. Thor smiled warmly back at him.
“Hi, Mr. Thor,” Peter greeted. It’s not his first time meeting him, but he’s still not that familiar with him. He met him a little after the Civil War, but it was brief during a battle. Then, he caught him when he was jumping out of the Compound’s second floor.
“Why, hello, Man of Spiders!” he booms.
“You can’t call him that when we get there,” Tony chastised. “Secret identity.”
Thor nodded. Rhodey, walking out of the cockpit, gave him a weird look. “It’ll look a little funny, him being with the Avengers and all.”
“He’s my intern,” Tony shrugged.
“It’s a work retreat,” Pepper says simply. “That’s all.”
Once they landed the Quinjet a few miles from the hotel, they all packed into their dorky ‘Avengers’ car. It’s practically a bus with how big it is. How Clint, Natasha, Steve, Pepper, Rhodey, Sam, Bucky, Bruce, Tony, Thor, and Peter all fit inside? Who knows, but they pack in like a clown car and they make it.
They look a little silly arriving. Climbing out of the car, they see other families getting to the resort. A newlywed couple is checking in in front of them and holding their little three-year-old. He peeks over her father’s shoulder and smiles at Peter. He grins back and gives a little wave.
The little baby gives a bubbly laugh. Peter covers his face, and then moves his hands to stick his tongue out. The baby giggles again.
“He’s cute,” Pepper coos, holding Tony’s arm.
Tony, looking at Peter stick his tongue out at the baby, nods. “He kinda is in a dorky way.”
Pepper taps him. “No, I mean, the baby,” she says.
“You don’t think Peter’s cute?” he asked, looking offended.
“He’s basically a carbon copy of you, sweetheart,” Pepper says. “Of course he is.”
“He’s not a carbon copy,” he mocked as they moved up in line.
“He acts just like you,” she shot back.
“No, if you want a carbon copy, I’ll give you a carbon copy,” he said, walking up to the counter.
She watched him check them in. “Did he just…?” she trailed off, looking to Rhodey for help.
“He just did,” he confirmed, looking equally lost.
Peter couldn’t help wandering around the office. Bucky caught him taking a picture of a tree. “What’re you doing?” he asked.
“Look!” he hissed, pointing to the picture on his phone. “It’s a Mickey Mouse tree.”
“Neat,” Bucky said, unamused. He’s more amused at how excited he is over a shrub.
“Come on, we gotta head over to the hotel,” Steve said, catching up with them.
Peter raised his eyebrow and looked around. “We’re not staying here?” he asked, looking at the garden inside.
“Don’t sound so sad,” Steve said, and Peter shook his head frantically.
“I’m not, I’m not,” he said quickly, and it wasn’t a lie. He took one last picture of the tree before joining them in the car.
As they got close, Natasha puts a blindfold over Peter’s eyes.
“Is this really neccessary?” he asked, rolling his eyes under the mask.
“Yes,” Tony says from the driver’s seat. “It is mandatory.”
Peter couldn’t sit still. Especially now that he had nothing to distract him from his excited energy, he tapped his hand repeatedly against his jeans. Once the car finally pulled to a spot, he let Pepper help him out of the car.
They didn’t even bother getting a luggage carrier. They grabbed their bags and started heading to the front of the hotel.
A bellboy walked up to offer help, but he stopped short at the sight of the Avengers. “How may I…?” he stopped short. Trying to recover quickly, he said, “May I take a bag?”
Pepper smiled. “Could you show us to our room?” she asked, slipping her sunglasses on. “Oh, and can I ask--” She started off in a couple questions, and the two of them walked ahead the rest of the group.
Peter pulled on his blindfold. “Can I take it off?” he asked, excitedly.
Natasha grabbed his hand and led him towards the elevator. She tried to pull him away from running into a wall, but thankfully his Spidey Senses warned him and he jumped to the side. Clint ended up walking on his other side to make sure he didn’t fall.
“It smells strange,” Peter said, sniffing the air.
“That’s probably Thor,” Clint said roughly. “He smells like a wet dog.”
“It rained!” Bruce protested. “Leave him alone.”
The bellboy paled and hit the button. “So, uh… What brings the Avengers here?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
“Family vacation,” Tony answers. The bellboy walks them to the room, and Pepper hands him a generous tip. His eyes practically bulge out of his head as he passes over the small box they asked him to carry. “Thanks.”
He blinked a couple times before they all loaded into the room.
“Okay, you ready, Pete?” Tony asked, putting his hands on the blindfold.
Peter nodded. Once the blindfold slipped off, Peter went still.
“You like it?” Tony asked, stepping to the side.
Peter at a loss for words looked around.
To be able to fit all ten (now eleven) of them, they had to rent two rooms.
The room was a little cramped, but that was too be expected. There was a large window at one end, and from it you could see the large pool. Some of the beds were built into the wall like a bunker. The others were high off the ground.
It looked something straight out of a catalog, and Peter loved it. He instantly ran around, looking at everything. There were tiny stuff, all references, and Peter excitedly sat up on the bed to look at a painting at the end of the bed.
Pepper walked up next to him and took a seat. “Press it,” she said.
Peter, confused, watched her point to a red button on the side of the frame. He did, and the entire headboard lit up.
“Whoa,” he said, at last. He probably shouldn’t be as amused as he is, but he can’t help it.
In all fairness, Peter isn’t the only one losing his mind at the hotel.
Tony, for one, is pretty proud of himself. Hands on his hips, he admires his work. Even Natasha looks a little excited, but she’s always hard to read. But even watching her set her stuff down, something seems different about her.
Peter presses his forehead against the glass to look out at the pool. He’s practically drooling.
“We were going to go to Disney,” Peter says, feeling the cushion sink as Tony plops down next to him. “When I graduated, May and I were gonna go.”
“Oh,” Tony said, “I hope you don’t mind we went early.”
Peter tore his eyes away from the window. “Are you kidding? Of course I don’t. This is amazing!”
“Pete, we haven’t even been to a park,” Tony says.
Peter sunk, deflating. “I know, but this is really, really cool.”
Tony grinned. “Say that when we get to the park, nerd.”
He hopped up and walked to the door. “Well? Come on, kid.”
Peter jumped up, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door.