"I wanna go back to school," Peter spoke up suddenly, disrupting the usual silence that coated the table during mealtimes.

Nobody had wanted to speak when they'd found out what happened to Bucky. And despite how much Tony didn't like the man, he knew how much Peter cared for him, so he stayed quiet as well.

Having Peter, the one who had originally opted for this silence, speak up all of a sudden shocked them.

"What?" Peter demanded after seeing their shocked reactions. He rolled his eyes. "I get that it's not common for a kid to want to go to school, but am I really a normal kid to you guys?"

"... Peter, we just aren't sure if you're ready yet," Steve said gently, unsure of how Peter would react.

He could be extremely violent, or he could stammer out apologies over and over again. Since Tony had downright refused to let them rest it out after what happened last time, they didn't know which course of action Peter would choose.

(Though, knowing Peter, it would be the apologetic route.)

As Peter looked angry, however, it appeared that wasn't the case - though it could be because they didn't know his secret side. Tony quickly intervened anyway.

"It's not that we don't think you're ready," Tony contradicted Steve's statement entirely, casting the man a sharp glare before turning his gaze back to Peter. "We don't know how your classmates will react."

"Dad, I've been away from school for way too long, and while it may not be my favourite place in the world, if I want to get a good job I need to go there."

Peter's eyes looked too old for his body.

"Aunt Nat, you get it, right? I was gone for about a month, wasn't I? And add on these two weeks of recovering, I think it's time I go back."

"But - Peter," Tony tried again, aware that most of the Avengers were leaving the room other than Natasha and Steve, "your classmates might call you by your last name. Your trigger words are pretty common, so you could have an attack at school. These are precautions, Pete."

"And I can call you, Dad," Peter said, standing up. "I have a phone, if I can't call you myself then I'll get Ned to. I just want to be normal!"

"Look, Peter," Natasha put in, making him look at her in the eye. "We all know that you want to be a normal kid again. It takes a long time to recover from this stuff. We just want you to be ready."

"I get that. I really do," Peter said, pacing the floor. "But I'm never going to be ready. You guys need to admit that. These - these trigger words are always going to affect me. These flashbacks - they're always going to to hurt. And the fact that I was at HYDRA? That's true. That's fact.

"And with you guys trying to shield me all the time, I'm not going to get better instantly. I personally think that I need these experiences, I need Flash to call me that, I need people to say those words. That's the best way to get better."

"And I'm not saying you're wrong, Peter," Tony said, staring at the boy intently, daring him to interrupt, "I'm just saying there's a better way to go around this. Bit by bit, okay?"

"... Steve, help me out here," Peter pleased after a moment.

Steve paused in thought. He gave a small smile when he thought of an agreement that (hopefully) the two would agree on.

"How about we start Peter off slowly first? For instance, he goes to school for an hour a day, for about a week, then two hours, then three, and gradually move up until Tony feels comfortable. How's that sound?"

Peter gave a small grumble, but otherwise seemed pretty happy with this decision.

"Yup! Dad?"

Tony gave a deep sigh.

"If I must. But if I feel that it's dangerous, you're coming right back here, understand?"

"Got it, Dad! Love you!"

And with that, Peter ran to his room, excited to get back to being a normal kid again.

~~~

Spooder-Man
Hey dude, guess what?

Peter quickly texted Ned as soon as he got to his room, excited to be back into his usual routine again. Ned replied not a second later.

DatGuyInDaChair
What up?

Peter had a huge grin on his face as he typed; it had been so long since he had last interacted with anyone other than the Avengers. His hands were shaking from excitement as he typed, making him check for typos every so often.

Spooder-Man
I'm coming back to school tmrw!

DatGuyInDaChair
And you're excited about that... why? Flash is still.. Flash, Pete

Peter shook his head fondly at Ned's response, the other boy was so predictable at times.

When Peter had first told him about the Avengers overprotective tendencies, he had complained, saying how come you don't get to go to school? That's not fair, right?

Of course, Peter had never told him the actual reason he was gone for so long. He figured the topic would just appear, he didn't want to to be some big thing.

Spooder-Man
It's not because of Flash, Ned. Actually, we just got back from this crazy awesome mission, it was amazing! I'll tell you about it later, but I got hurt and I finally get to come back, act like a normal kid again.

DatGuyInDaChair
I'd give anything for your powers, Peter. You have no clue how lucky you are. Anyway, I'll see you at school tmrw then, yeah?

Spooder-Man
Yup, dude. Tmrw.

Peter put his phone on charge despite the fact that it was on ninety two percent and gave his bed a disgruntled look.

It wasn't really directed at the bed though. It was kind of directed to Ned, but Peter was much too nice of a person to actually think that. So he took his anger out by looking at his bed instead.

Not that it did much.

"Ned seriously thinks my powers are a blessing?" Peter mumbled to himself, being mindful of FRIDAY. She (because he firmly believed androids or AI's were alive and deserved a pronoun other than 'it') could hear whatever went on in the tower, after all.

Peter personally thought his powers were a curse. If he hadn't had his powers, he wouldn't need to keep lying to his family. If he hadn't had his powers, his friends would be safe.

But then again, if he hadn't had his powers, he'd have never helped rescue all of those people.

But if he hadn't had his powers, he might not have gotten kidnapped.

But he got kidnapped because of - his powers. Because of Spider-Man.

All because of his powers.

Peter's dreams that night were full of robbers, murderers, and a evil chuckle in the background.

~~~

Peter had packed all of his stuff for the school the night before. He had also managed to write a small note on a piece of paper and slip it into Bucky's room while the man was sleeping - just to make sure he was okay.

Hey, Buck, you okay? I know you won't want to see anyone right now, so I did this letter and I snuck it into your room. Can you answer, please? At least on the other side of this paper. You can even get Steve to put it in my room for you!
Love you, see you soon!
- Peter

It wasn't as long as Peter would have liked, but it was on one of the scrap pieces of paper he found in his room, and there was only so much he could write with his handwriting.

He put his bag over his shoulder and walked to the kitchen, grabbing an apple. It appeared he was going to back to his bad eating habits from before.

"You didn't have to get up this early, Pete!" Tony called from the hallway. The man was rubbing his eyes as he looked at the time (quarter past seven). "We could have always started you off for an hour later."

"I need to get back into routine, Dad," Peter explained, grinning at his dad as he took a bite out of his apple. "I'll be back soon - also, can I quickly ask you something?"

"Shoot," Tony said, obviously rather tired. He probably wouldn't hear anything Peter said, just nod and go along with it - which was exactly what Peter needed.

"If I'm feeling okay at school, can I try the full day?"

"Yup, you can, I'm going back to bed, see you soon," Tony murmured.

Peter grinned, knowing that FRIDAY was recording this scene and therefore he would be able to show Tony this for evidence later. He took another bite of his apple as he left, deciding to walk to school as he had gotten up earlier than he usually did.

Yet he could feel a foreboding feeling in his gut - something was going to go wrong.

But, as Peter was Peter, he ignored it in favour of enjoying the sight of New York; he hadn't been outside in a while, after all.

That would be one of the bad decisions Peter made that day.

Um... I'd add more, but I won't.

I'm updating this quicker because of a reason below (I also have a doctors appointment later, so yeah).

Guys, I have a new obsession... I'm kinda obsessed with that video game that came out last year? I think. Detroit: Become Human. Yeah. That one. Ahhhh, obsessed!!!!

That's where the AI's and androids deserving other pronouns other than 'it' came from :) 😊😊 😂💕

Also, I need to quickly add something...

I'm learning guitar (whoo!!!) but the lessons are on Thursdays - just my luck. I think I'll still be able to update on Thursdays, but in case I can't, that's why!

Next next Friday doesn't work as well as Thursday does. Neither does Monday, Saturday or Sunday (yes, I've tried them all 😂😂). I'm still trying to stick my schedule though! I'm just going to have to do this quickly!

Also, I think I've done something to my back. It hurts :(

Also (I used also three times whoops), my brother just said I 'look like a turtle shopping in a supermarket'. Any idea what that means?

Quick edit: I forgot to say this, but maaajjjjooorrrr shoutout to (once again) CEM0414 because they just make me laugh and they've commented on every single chapter :) have an awesome day!! also... over 2K reads? That's incredible! Thank you, all of you!

ALSO I JUST UPDATED ONE OF THE BOOKS THAT I MADE THE SUMMARY FOR IN THE TAGS BOOK! It's 'Watching... Us?' so you know :) that's it! [end edit]

That's all!

See you next next Thursday, my young Wattpadians!

- WriteCrazyForLife

🕷🕸Until next next Thursday🕸🕷