Living With Secrets

Lost...

Wade paced in the dorm. It was nearly 10pm now, and Peter still hadn't shown up.

He has to be back by tonight, he has class tomorrow, the blond teen thought, running his hands through his hair. Where the hell is he?

It had been a long day for Wade, he'd texted Peter to let him know he would be back at MIT by 3, but he got no reply. It was strange for Peter to be so unresponsive. Something was off. Call it a 6th sense, but Wade knew something was wrong.

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6 hours before~~

Peter, who had been lounging on the couch all day in an Ironman onesie, sighed heavily. Clint rolled his eyes at the teen, who had been sighing all day. Pepper and Tony had left for a meeting in Paris earlier that afternoon, Natasha was in the bath, Alyona was with Wanda, and everyone else was either training, working, or out running errands.

"What's up with you, man? You'll need to leave soon if you wanna get back to MIT before midnight," Clint joked, scrubbing the kitchen island with a wet sponge.

"It's nothing, Uncle Clint, I'm fine," Peter sighed again.

"Yeah, and I haven't known you for almost 10 years. Seriously, what's up? Is this about Wade?"

It was no secret what had happened on Saturday. Peter had filled everyone in on the facts, and they'd all had one question for him: Are you going to tell Wade you know, and more importantly, how you know? As far as Wade was concerned, Spiderman knew who he was, not Peter. And that was a big difference.

"Yeah, a little," Peter mumbled, flopping off the couch and making his way towards his uncle. "I just don't know what to do. I don't want it to be weird, and the only reason he got beat up the other day was because he wouldn't kill me, and then with everything Al said, I don't want to scare him off. He needs family, man, and if that's me, then that's me."

Clint nodded along, still cleaning up the kitchen.

"And I just don't want everything to change. Like, I don't want him to worry every time I step out the door, but I'm going to be worried about him, now that I know he's one, a pretty well know criminal, and two, a wanted man! He has enough on his plate without adding in my life of superhero antics."

"Okay, dude, you've done this since you were little! You always think of everyone else first, you need to start thinking about yourself. What do you want?" Clint dropped the sponge into the sink and turned to his nephew, leaning back on the kitchen counter with his elbows.

"I guess I'd like to have someone at MIT who could patch me up, like you guys and Ned did when we were all here. And if he knew who I was, we could work the case together."

Clint nodded. "Don't feel like you have to tell him anything, Pete, you could always investigate that professor together under masks. That being said, if you wanna tell him, you should. Besides, I know you're worried about someone being after Wade, but that person is also after you, and he's at MIT. We're all a little worried about that."

Peter nodded, and feeling like they'd talked enough about him, decided to change the subject. "How are you? How's family life?"

"A lot different than family life with you, I'll be honest," the older man laughed. "With you, there was no bath time, no diapers, no... little kid stuff. But Alyona was the whole thing, the whole 'baby' thing, ya know? That isn't to say we didn't love having you and doing the science museum and going to the zoo, its just different."

"Yeah," Peter said with a smile. "I get that. I feel kinda bad for Mom and Dad 'cause they never got to do that."

"Nah, you shouldn't feel bad about that. Your parents wanted kids forever, they were so happy to bring you home," Clint shrugged. "You are everything to them. I don't think they'd trade the life they had with you for anything they could have had with a baby."

Peter nodded. "Still, I always wanted that for them." There was a short silence, and Clint looked as though he was debating what he should do.

"You wanna hear the newest gossip I've heard from around the Tower?"

"Shoot," Peter shrugged.

"Well, Nat and I are talking about having another kid." Peter's eyes widened a little.

"A new balls of energy? When you guys just got rid of one, and had another?"

Clint laughed, throwing his head back a little. "Yeah, I know. But Nat and I really love being parents, surprising, I know. Oh, and I heard Wanda has a boyfriend."

Peter chuckled.

"Anyways, young man, I think you should be packing for school." Clint and Peter said their good nights, and the teen watched his uncle head down the hall.

"School," Peter whispered to himself. "What am I gonna do about that?"

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"Boss, we've got eyes on the target. He's in his suit, carrying a duffel. You were right, sir, I think he's headed back to school."

There was a moment of silence over the earpiece, then a static-filled voice came over the headset.

"Bring him in, I want him alive. For now."

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"Hello?" Tony's voice was laced with exhaustion. Long plane flights always tired him out, and despite the extra leg room a private jet provided, he was usually uncomfortable in plane seats. "What's up, Hap?"

"Mr. Stark, there's a call waiting for you. Came through the Tower, some kid named Wade. Says its about Peter."

Tony was suddenly much more awake. "That's Pete's roommate, put him through."

When Pepper heard her son's name mentioned, she jolted out of her sleepy daze. "What's wrong with Peter?" She whispered to her husband.

"I'm not sure yet, I just- Oh, Wade," Tony cut himself off as he heard the phone connect.

"Hey, is Peter still at the Tower?"

"What? I'm not there, I had to fly to Paris for a meeting. Isn't he at the dorms?"

"He isn't here, haven't seen him since last night," Wade sighed, panic seeping into his words.

"Is it possible he got there before you and just went out?" Tony paced up and down the aisle of the jet.

"I got here at 3, and his duffel bag isn't here."

"Okay," Tony took a breath and tried to calm his racing heart. "Okay. I'm about to give you 3 different numbers. The first 2 are his girlfriend and his best friend, call them and see if they've heard from him. If not, call the third, its for his aunt. See when he left the tower. Call me back when you've done all of that, I'll call his other family members."

"Okay, talk soon."

Wade disconnected, and Tony fell back into his seat. Pepper's eyes scanned his, looking for any sign of what the call had been about.

"He never turned up at the dorms," Tony whispered.

He didn't have to say anything else. They both were thinking the same thing. Who had taken their boy... again?

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Peter slowly woke up, discovering that he was in handcuffs, tied to a chair.

"Of course," he mumbled. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of someone hitting him over the head.

The teen looked around, hoping to find a clue as to where he was. It was obvious that he was in a lab, given all the pristine instruments, lab tables, cages in the corner, and chemicals in the store cabinets across from the chair Peter was tied to.

Oh, not again, Peter thought, letting his head loll to the side in exasperation. My parents are going to kill me.