SINCE THE NIGHT OF THE FIGHT and the confrontation with Helen, Natasha had maintained a firm stance on cutting down Peter's patrol times around the city- even Clint had been no help whatsoever when Peter had attempted to bargain with the redhead. She even messaged him for updates on the night's that he did patrol, just in case he found himself cornered by Hydra agents and the avengers weren't able to make another grand entrance as backup.

Peter appreciated the concern despite not knowing how to react to it, but he was annoyed that the only other thing he could with his now abundance of free time in the evening was study.

His fingers tapped on the desk which just happened to be in unison with the rhythm of his foot hitting the floor. The online lecture was dragging, the teacher's voice droning on in the background while Peter spun lazily on his swivel chair, eyes bouncing from the ceiling to the clock repeatedly when he heard three distinct words, "- a partner project."

Instantly, Peter's spinning froze and he groaned at being assigned a partner in the class.

The thing with the class that Natasha had joined him up to- posing as his mother which he refused to acknowledge- was that it was for teenagers who couldn't attend the lessons physically for several reasons; living too far away, health problems etc. So, Peter had never had to talk to any of the kids in person- in fact, he barely paid much attention to the students at all since he was usually too busy reading ahead or doing his own experiment off camera.

"- Parker with Keener." And now he had to work with someone.

It wasn't that Peter necessarily disliked anyone in the class, he just didn't know how to interact with them without coming across as standoffish. He frowned to himself as 'Keener' popped up in his online messages, the light blinking tauntingly beside his name.

Harley Keener: got a number?

The moment the class ended, Peter had dashed out of his room and wandered into the rest of the apartment to see Natasha lounging on the couch, eyes raking over a file in her hands while her feet laid comfortably in Clint's lap who sat at the opposite end, controller in hand.

"How was class Pete?" Natasha asked without looking up.

Peter groaned again. "Got a partner project." He moaned, reaching into the cupboard for a pack of biscuits- he threw one at Clint who failed to catch it in his mouth without tearing his attention away from the screen. Natasha frowned in annoyance at the crumbs.

"You won't die." She commented, a smile playing on her lips at his obvious misfortune.

Peter grunted. "Maybe I will. We pray and hope."

"Bold of you to assume I'm letting you die."

Natasha grinned as Peter huffed whilst practically collapsing into the armchair, munching mournfully on a biscuit and clutching the pack to his chest like it was a new born child. Despite his annoyance, she loved the sight- things had changed so fast in the few months he'd been living with her.

"What's the project for?" Clint questioned, angrily hitting buttons.

"Science. Robots. Stuff." Peter grumbled tiredly, looking down at his phone.

Harley: soooo. robots. cool huh?

Peter: all you got?

Harley: all I need my guy

Harley: and chicken nuggets

Harley: I feel like a nugget

Peter: you are a nugget

Harley: you haven't met me

Harley: but thank you

Harley: that's all I have ever wanted to achieve in life

Peter: anytime

Peter: I'll happily call you a nugget

Peter: nugget

"Anyway." Commented Natasha, drawing Peter's attention once again. "Despite the horror of your partner project there is an avenger meeting tonight. Coming?" She queried. "Nick said he 'contacted you' to the rest of the team so they'll be expecting you there."

There was beat of silence as Peter sat there, half a biscuit hanging out of his mouth and looking far from the stone-cold killer Hydra had made him out to be. His heart had lurched at the idea of once again being thrusted into the direct path of the avengers, plagued by the reminder that at one point they had been enemies, even if they didn't know that piece of critical information. Instead, he tilted his head, frowning in confusion. "What do they need to talk to me about?"

Clint, who was still absorbed by the game on the console suddenly had a socked foot in his face from Natasha who had tossed away the file while she explained calmly, "Establishing that you're a part of the team- setting you up for alerts, pretty basic stuff."

Peter shrugged, though hesitant. "Yeah. I'll go." he agreed, reaching for the second controller as Clint batted away Natasha's foot with a long-suffering sigh.

"I will hit you with this cushion."

"Like to see you try Barton." Natasha gloated. Peter chuckled to himself as the duo started wrestling on the couch- Nat pinning the archer down with ease while he squeaked indignantly.

-

Nerves pulsed through Peter as he approached the avengers tower that evening.

He had settled on the roof of a small building a few streets away to calm his racing heart at the idea of once again meeting the team of heroes. Peter already knew that Nat and Clint were inside since they'd texted him once they'd both arrived, so it helped calm him down- but he was still itching for his headphones. It wasn't a goodnight to be Spiderman; his sense was acting up, making his general anxiety heighten to a hundred.

Taking in a deep breath, Peter launched off the building and swung himself through the conveniently open window- courtesy of a certain archer. He casually dropped down inside the main room.

"Jesus kid." Tony hissed, clutching his chest.

Ripples of laughter emerged from the arranged group around the room; Peter singled out the sounds of Clint and Natasha almost immediately when he turned to face the people around him. He was thankful the mask covered his blush as he noticed all the original avengers were present.

"Hi." He squeaked out, before swiftly clearing his throat.

"Where you from kid?" Steve asked, curious. He was sitting on the couch.

The simplicity of the question threw Peter for a moment. He frowned to himself and at his lack of ability to immediately recall where he had grown up before Hydra had dug their claws into him. "Queens." He breathed out the word with barely contained relief- his eyes darted to Natasha who hardly reacted to his hesitancy, though she had already made a mental note to question it further.

"Good to see you in one piece." She announced instead, extending her hand which Peter quickly accepted. "Never take a bullet for me again." Nat added sternly, and he knew that she was talking to him as Natasha instead of the Black Widow.

"Noted." Peter said as Clint smirked down at the floor.

There was a beat of silence, Peter's eyes darting everywhere as he instinctively looked for exits and assessed the likely hood of being attacked by the people surrounding him- it was a habit he was trying to break, but it was currently helping his nerves so he didn't try too hard.

"Why'd you pull a disappearing act, by the way?" Tony piped up finally, eyeing the teenager clad in a black suit with suspicion. He had been at his wit's end when he turned away and back again to find the teenager gone like he'd suddenly dematerialised in the med bay.

"Doctors freak me out." Peter lied.

Hesitantly, Tony nodded before handing over something that looked like an updated pager. Peter accepted the device and eyed it; he examined the technology as Tony talked around him. "Fury said you agreed to being an avenger. This," he pointed to the device, "will alert you when we need you, or for general meetings, training sessions and whatever. So, keep it on you at all times."

Peter nodded vigorously, stowing it away in his pocket despite the urge to pick the device apart and study the insides to check it for bugs. He trusted Natasha to let him know if it was dangerous in anyway or would expose his living situation.

Tony's lip quirked upwards as he said, "Well, guess you're an avenger now kid." 

A/N

I know Peter becoming an Avenger is lowkey super quick, but in my head he does the training and stuff but I'm just not going to write much about it, though it does happen!

There are only the original six in this story so far, I might mention the others or bring them in later I'm not sure yet. I just didn't want to be responsbile for a hundred characters.

 Anywho, let me know of any spelling mistakes! xoxo.