Thea quickly set down her items, like her broach and her backpack before she walked out of her apartment and down to Peter's in order to catch Ned. Thea knocked softly on the door and waited for only a moment before May revealed herself on the other side.

"Thea? What are you doing here?"

Thea smiled sweetly at May before she replied back. "I'm here to hang out with Ned and Peter." Thea shuffled her feet on the ground, waiting for May's response.

"Oh well come on in. I really didn't think a girl like you would want to build a Lego set with them." May opened the door wider and welcomed Thea into the apartment. Thea waited for May to close the door behind them before she asked, "Hey where is Ned?" May pointed down the narrow hallway to Peter's room as she said, "He's in Peter's room building the set." Thea smiled sweetly towards May before she set off in the direction of Peter's bedroom.

Thea looked around at the photo's hung across the hallway. She had never gotten the chance to do this before, she was always too busy with everything else to truly look at them. The photos were mostly of Peter and May, recently it seemed. One was from last year with Tony after he got into the "Stark Internship", which wasn't much of an internship at all. However, one photo was hung at the end of the hallway, it had the familiar faces of May and Peter, both young and innocent, but there was another face present. A man stood behind both May and Peter, his hands draped softly over their shoulders as they all smiled widely. Thea was confused as to this mystery man, but she figured she should ask Peter later.

Thea knocked on Peter's door, waiting for an answer to let her in. A loud, "Come in." let Thea know that there was someone in the room. She opened up the door to see Ned, sitting on the bottom mattress of Peter's new bunk bed. In his hands was a large Lego replica of the Death Star. It was barely built, only the base having been completed.

Ned's head tilted slightly as he spoke out, "Thea?"

Thea smiled softly as she closed the door behind her. She didn't reply to Ned, instead, she sat down on the floor in front of him and inquired, "Did you really forget that I said I would show up and help?" She crossed her legs and placed her hands on her lap. Ned sputtered out incoherent words as Thea laughed slightly.

For the next few minutes, Thea tried and failed to help Ned with his Lego set. It was only when Thea heard a loud, "No," sound from the kitchen, that she was able to stop embarrassing herself.

"I better go see what happened with May," Thea spoke out quickly. She hurried out of the room without hesitation and ran to the kitchen, where she saw May bent over and rapidly fanning the oven of its smoke. Thea accidentally inhaled too much smoke, causing her to cough loudly. May turned over her shoulder to see Thea staring back at her.

"You need some help there?" Thea said while still coughing harshly.

"You don't have to-" May was interrupted by Thea grabbing an oven mitt and pulling out a burnt meatloaf. She placed it on the stove, carefully making sure that she wouldn't burn herself in the process. May watched as she did this, slowly standing up from her bent position. She eyed Thea as she took a knife and poked the meatloaf in the tin. The knife barely pierced the skin of the meatloaf, it was as hard as a rock and black all over.

"I-um," Thea hesitated. "It's a wonderful and burnt..." Thea looked for May for an answer to her sentence.

"Meatloaf. It's supposed to be a turkey meatloaf," May sighed and shook her head with a smile. Thea grinned as she said, "Oh yes, a wonderful... meatloaf."

May jokingly scoffed at Thea's distaste and lightly hit her with a towel that was on the counter. "Oh I'm definitely not helping you now," Thea joked.

The next hour was spent with Thea and May, hopelessly trying to create a turkey meatloaf. Thea ended up getting sauce on her shirt, and in her hair somehow. But she didn't seem to care. Thea and May finally put the meatloaf into the oven when they overheard a loud crash that came from Peter's room. Thea looked over to May who shouted, "What was that?"

"Uh, it's nothing. It's nothing!" Shouted a familiar voice from Peter's room.

Thea furrowed her eyebrows as she realized the voice that shouted that was Peter. Thea pointed to the room as she explained to may that she should go and check on Ned and Peter. She passed by the same picture with the mysterious man in it and opened the door to Peter's room.

Inside she saw Ned standing with a pile of his Lego Death Star at his feet. It was scattered and ruined. And next to him was Peter, clad in his Spider-Man suit for a split second before he hit the emblem on his chest. This caused his suit to fall away from his body. Peter and Ned finally took notice of Thea as she stood next to the door frame. She quickly closed the door as she whispered loudly, "Peter! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Peter stared with wide eyes at Thea who had creases in her forehead now. "Give me a second Thea." Peter pleaded. He quickly turned around to Ned, who said. "You were on the ceiling!"

"No, I wasn't. Ned, what are you doing in my room?" Peter spoke out rapidly, trying to explain to Ned what he just saw. Thea walked forward to the pair and whispered loudly to Peter. "May let Ned and I in after you promised that you would finish the Death Star!"

Thea caught Ned staring at her as she called Peter out. Ned was about to open his mouth to talk to presumably Thea when all of a sudden the door to the room swung open to reveal May. She pulled her hair down from its updo and fanned a towel in front of her, trying to rid the apartment of smoke. Peter ran over to Ned and stood by him. Thea looked down at his Spider-Man suit and tried to discreetly shove it into the corner of the room.

"The turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster. Sorry that I ruined it, Thea." May looked at Thea in sorrow before she continued on. "Let's go to dinner. Thai? Ned, Thea you want Thai?"

Ned responded with a very airy 'yes'. Whereas Thea just shook her head and smiled politely.

"No. He's got a thing," Peter interjected hastily. He smiled with his lips closed as Ned said.

"A thing to do after."

May turned over her shoulder slightly and grabbed the doorknob. "Okay," she said softly. But before she left, she faced the teens and waved a finger at Peter, saying, "Maybe put on some clothes."

Thea looked back at Peter, who was only clad in his boxers. Her eyes trailed over his body and chest. She was too worried and stressed out before to notice what Peter looked like at the moment. Peter grabbed a gray sweatshirt on the chair to the left of him and held a smile until May shut the door behind her.

"Oh, she doesn't know?" Ned gasped out. His hand reached out to the door where May once was. Thea was taking in this conversation as Ned reveled in the fact that Peter was Spider-Man. She bent down to retrieve the discarded Spider-Man suit on the floor. Silently, she correctly the creases that Peter gave it when he so harshly stepped out of it. She walked to the center of the room and placed it back in his backpack, nicely folded.

"Nobody knows," Peter said in a loud whisper.

Thea laughed as she pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down on it. She crossed her legs and rested her elbow on the chair's arm and set her chin on her hand.

Ned looked over at Thea with wide eyes and said, "You knew!?"

Thea lifted her head off of her hand and sighed out, "Well...it's not just me. My dad, Tony Stark, knows too. But he only knows because I told him, and then he made the suit and it's a whole entire thing." Thea rambled on, she purposely added in that Tony Stark was her father and knew about Peter. She would rather get it all out now and have Ned try to wrap his head around it, rather than explaining it all later and have to deal with this again.

Ned gasped out in shock, "Tony Stark!? He-he's your father." Ned pointed to Thea. "And he made you that suit?" Ned pointed over to Peter and the suit hidden in the backpack.

Ned paused for a moment before he bluntly asked. "Are you an Avenger?"

Peter finished putting on his sweatshirt and looked back at Thea for a moment before he answered. "Yeah, basically."

Thea snorted out as she said, "Dude, I'm more of an Avenger than you are." Thea stopped smiling for a moment before she asked Peter quietly, although Ned could still hear it. "How will he react when he finds out about me though?" Peter shrugged and turned back to Ned.

Ned looked over Peter and Thea before he began to fall against the bed. Thea's eyes caught this and without thinking, she shot a hand out. Her purple mist flowed out of her fingertips and braced themselves against Ned's body. Thea's eye widened at her doing this and hastily shot out more smoke to his lips, stopping him before he could shout.

"Shit," Thea whispered to herself. Peter looked over at Thea with huge eyes and raised brows. She could see that he wondered why she did this. Slowly, she let her grip go on the powers holding Ned up. Letting him lean against the bunk bed.

"Ned," Thea spoke softly while getting out of the chair and walking slowly toward him. "I need you to not freak out. Nod if you understand."

Moments passed before Ned nodded slowly. Thea could almost see the gears turning in Ned's head. He was processing what he just saw. Gradually, Thea dropped each finger that was holding up the mist covering Ned's mouth. As soon as the last finger fell, Thea could hear a sharp inhale from the boy.

"So... you're- you're-ah," Ned started shakily.

"I'm Dark Matter, yes," Thea said.

Peter who was silent for most of this spoke out. "You can't tell anyone about us. You gotta keep it a secret."

Thea nodded her head in agreement. Her hair fell down in front of her eyes and she brushed it back to its original place.

"A secret? Why?" Ned whined.

"You know what she's like. If she finds out people try and kill me every single night, she's not going to let me do this anymore. Come on, Ned, please," Peter spoke out rapidly, his voice cracking with stress.

Thea took a step to the side and spoke out softly, "Please Ned. Think about it."

Ned looked from Thea and then back to Peter. "Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'll level with you. I don't think I can keep this a secret. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me, Peter!"

Thea was about to interrupt Ned's ramble but she was cut short by Peter speaking out. "Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that's happened with her, I... Please."

Thea's eyes narrowed at his statement. She wondered if it had something to do with the mystery man she saw in the photo. A few moments of silence passed as Ned thought before he finally said softly, "Okay."

"Just swear it, okay?" Peter pleaded.

"I swear," Ned confirmed.

"Thank you," both Peter and Thea said at the same time. Peter ran his fingers through his hair as he spoke. "I can't this is happening right now." Peter led Ned to the door, all the while he was asking questions. Thea stood by the bed and waited for Peter to lead Ned out.

"Can I try on the suit?"

Thea laughed out loud at Ned and smiled at Peter's response. Ned turned around to face Thea for a second and asked, "How do your powers work?"

Thea's smile quickly faded and she squinted her eyes at the question. When Ned didn't get an answer from Thea he turned back to Peter and asked quietly.

"Wait... how do you do this and the Stark Internship?"

Peter stood in disbelief as he stated bluntly, "This is the Stark Internship." Ned paused for a moment before a look of recognition fell over him. "Oh."

Peter quickly ushered Ned out of the room, leaving only Thea and Peter. Thea watched as Peter leaned against the door, grabbing his head in frustration. He groaned out and Thea cleared her throat. Peter lifted his head and removed his hands from his face.

"So... that went well," Thea spoke out. Peter stared blankly at Thea. "Well... I better get going then."

~~~

Thea left Peter's apartment with a blank look on her face. She silently entered her apartment and immediately went to her bedroom. Her strides became longer and longer as her mind raged on about what had just happened. As soon as she entered her room she took off her shoes and fell onto her bed. The darkness of her room felt like it was growing into her brain. The sick feeling of loneliness forced her mind to go wild. Her mind couldn't take it anymore. She gasped, not being able to catch her breath. She struggled as she tried to grasp her phone. Her fingertips searched over her tabletop next to her bed, trying to find her phone. When she finally did she hastily scrolled through her contacts, trying to find Tony.

The phone dialed, waiting for Tony to pick up on the other end. Suddenly, a voice sounded from the other end.

"Thea?"

She struggled to respond, her voice choking in her throat.

"Da-d," Thea managed to spit out.

Whenever Thea could feel herself slipping away, she would either find Peter or Tony to help her. But seeing as Peter was already struggling on his own, he was out of the question.

"Thea, sweetie, just listen to my voice," Tony spoke out calmly. Thea croaked out incoherent sounds as she struggled to listen to his voice.

"Nothing bad is going to happen, everything is in the past. You have everything to look forward too," Tony's reassuring voice spoke out. Thea managed a shaky inhale of air as her mind calmed.

"Oh th-thank-god," Thea exhaled sharply. Her mind's pictures that were raging in the darkness slowed to a stop as her mind focused on Tony's voice instead.

"Are you sure you're okay? Do you need someone there with you? I can call Parker," Tony spoke out in a worried tone.

"I-I'm fine Tony, I just needed to hear your voice." Thea breathed out. Her fingertips rested on her forehead as she talked out. "Hey-um, when are you coming back?"

"I don't know exactly when, but if you need me there, I'll be on the next flight over."

Thea laughed softly and grinned at his statement. "Also, did you find anything on the girl from the... camp I was in? Jennea Smith was her name."

Tony sighed out and said, "No, nothing yet."

A silence ensued as Thea thought for a moment. Her mind was blank at the moment, thinking about what to say next, the only thing she could think was. "Well, I better get to bed now.

"Goodnight sweetheart," Tony said as he wished Thea sweet dreams.

~A/N~

I updated again!!!!!

Man, I really hope I can catch up with all the movies. I'm really loving how the relationship is growing. You guys will soon see how they progress together.