"SO MY AUNT SAID I COULD SLEEP OVER, BUT SHE WANTS US ALL TO KNOW SHE DOESN'T APPROVE OF ANYTHING I'M DOING."

Peter nodded with pursed lips as she stood in the entrance of the kitchen, phone in hand and a sad look in his eyes. He had explained to Aurora and Phillip on their way home that while she understood and accepted his role of Spider-Man, she did not, in any way, appreciate him going around and endangering himself. She still loved him, of course, which was why she cared, but it didn't make him feel any better about it.

"If you really need to, Peter, you can just come by in the morning, we don't want you and your aunt at odds because of this," Gazelle said, Rosalee nodding in agreement as she set out the spaghetti at the island counter.

"No, it's fine, I told her I could come home but she said she doesn't want Briar getting hurt just because she's disappointed," Peter said, pocketing his phone and taking a seat, nodding towards the girl who whispering a small, 'thank you.'

"Phillip, do you need to call your parents?" Gazelle asked, turning the other boy who was being taught how to make a flower crown by Aurora who was wearing two on her head.

He looked up, shaking his head before looking down. "No, it's fine, um...my dad doesn't really check up on me. Ever. Unless he wants something, but we're kind of at odds on that, and my mom doesn't...I don't even think she knows I'm gone."

"Really?" Marisol gasped, staring at him, shocked, "What kind of mother is that?"

"One who's trying her best," he shot back, harsher than intended, shaking his head and sighing, "Sorry, that was mean, I just...my parents love me, they just never even planned on having me. My uncle, he might care, but he wouldn't even know in the first place."

Aurora reached out, grabbing his hands which were swiftly tying together the flowers, nearly finished with his crown, his eyebrows furrowed and lip caught between his teeth so tightly it was as if he was trying to draw blood. He stilled but didn't look up at her, just letting her hold his hands for a moment, lacing their fingers together.

He tapped her palms after a moment and she pulled away, the two immediately turning to their food, Phillip digging in while Aurora debated on eating or not.

"Ms. Elemide," Peter said, catching Gazelle's attention, "What's that necklace you're wearing, it looks really nice."

Gazelle smiled, her hand instinctively moving up to her neck where a vibranium laced pendant resided, having taken up permanent residence since she was dropped off at Xavier's when she was born.

"My father gave it to me," she explained, "It's laced with vibranium. I'm Wakandan, and my father thought it best that I be sent to a place where they'd know how to best take care of me, so he sent me away. Of course, I reconnected with them eventually, my twin sister had come to live with us a few years ago while she practiced nursing."

"Her name's Zarina and I hear she's engaged to King T'Challa," Aurora added, nudging Peter, who was staring at Gazelle with wide eyes.

"The engagement isn't set in stone yet, but granted they've been in love since they were seven, I'm surprised they didn't get married before she came to live with us," Gazelle mumbled, catching the gawking faces of the two boys, "I know that all news from Wakanda is still a lot to process."

"That is so cool," Peter gushed, "So is that virtually indestructible? Do those markings mean anything or do they just look nice? Have you gone to visit, their borders have been open, is it nice there?"

Gazelle laughed as she kept up with Peter's questioning, Rosalee and Marisol sharing a look as they all smiled at the excitable teenager who's eyes were the size of saucers at this point, mouth running at a mile a minute.

"Does he have an off-switch?" Phillip joked, mumbling into Aurora's ear, causing her to giggle.

Peter's phone buzzed and he immediately jumped to his feet, making his way to the other room. "Hey, Diana, what's up?"

"His girlfriend," Aurora finished, turning to look at Phillip, the two snickering as they continued to eat, the three women in front of them sighing with relief as they were able to take a breath.

"He's sweet," Gazelle reasoned, turning back to the others with a genuine smile, smacking Marisol who snorted, "Stop it. He's a nice boy, and I appreciated his questions, they were respectful and I was happy to answer them."

"He's got a motor mouth," Phillip replied, taking another bite of his spaghetti, "This is really good, thank you so much."

"I'm glad you like it, I spent years perfecting it for this one," Rosalee explained, poking Aurora who giggled, leaning back, "Speaking of which, you're getting a lot better at staying tangible, Briar..." She drew out Briar, eyes wide as she forced herself to remember who she was with, not wanting to give away Aurora's name.

"Thanks," the girl said, quickly shifting gears at the near slip-up, "I've been practicing months before this, so I'm glad it's useful for something."

"Sorry, I'm back," Peter said, sliding back into the room, "I also asked my friends to fill in for my tutoring spot while I'm gone."

"You tutor?" Aurora asked, taking another bite of her spaghetti, Rosalee reminding her that they didn't know what happened if she ate too much since she's a projection.

"Kind of. Mr. Stark wants me to watch over this one kid of his, I think he's his son? I don't know, but he's really scary. He's like, eleven, and he can be really mean if he wants to," Peter explained, shuddering as he thought back to the boy whom he met at the library for a good number of days after school every week.

"Kids are scary, that's why I pretend I wasn't one," Phillip said, finishing off his spaghetti, "And neither do all those teenagers and thirteen year olds who complain about kids for doing nothing except existing, just pretending that they're awful to fulfill their edgy needs."

"That's what this kid always complains about," Peter gasped, shaking his head, "I mean, he's right, but jeez, can you tutor him instead?"

"Do I look smart to you?" Phillip demanded, lifting his glass to his lips, "Have Briar tutor him, she's smart and too nice to be yelled at."

Aurora smiled at that, glancing up to her godmothers who gave a pointed look to the clock, tapping their wrists in unison. Clearing her throat, she turned to the boys. "So...I think we should probably get to sleeping soon, because we probably have to wake up early tomorrow. The bathroom's down the hall to the left of the stairs if you need."

"We also have clothes for you boys," Rosalee said, smiling to herself, "We had a lot of fun with these, we like designing clothes."

"That's why it's our career," Gazelle added, taking a bite of a cookie that had been cooling on a tray above the stove.

"We were going to be bakers, but we decided not to," Marisol explained, trying and failing to shove an entire cookie in her mouth all at once, "Anyways, get going, kids."

"Thank you for dinner," Phillip said, carrying his plate to the sink before racing down the hall, tapping Peter's shoulder, "Dibs!"

"We have another bathroom," Rosalee said, smiling at a pouting Peter who was still finishing off his food.

"We do?" Aurora asked, looking up from where she was drinking her juice.

"I'll show you," Gazelle said, leading Peter down the hall why Aurora demanded to know what other secrets her godmothers were hiding from her.

"Go get your room ready, we've expanded the bed," Rosalee said, fending off all the questions thrown her way, much to the girl's chagrin, "Please don't stay up too late, you have a full day ahead tomorrow."

"We won't," Aurora promised, shrugging as she hopped off her stool, "Why would we even stay up so late?"

º º º

"—and that's the full story with commentary as to how Diana and I wound up dating, can I ask why you wanted to know?"

Peter stared at the blinking faces of Phillip and Aurora, Aurora with her head resting on his stomach and Phillip shaking his head as he was turned partly on his side. There wasn't a clock for them to look at to see how much time they had wasted listening to Peter's entire life story up until that point, but all three knew a lot of time had passed.

"So you know where the war criminals are hiding?" Phillip asked, narrowing his eyes, "And you're not telling Tony Stark?"

"No, Mr. Stark knows," Peter explained, "But they're trying to repair their friendship."

"Aw," Aurora cooed, "That's sweet."

The three were huddled on Peter's side of the bed, shifting around so Phillip was now flat on his back and Aurora was propped up on his stomach, the boy closing his eyes while Peter and Aurora talked about his role as Spider-Man and all the homework they're missing.

"We're missing so much homework," Peter whispered, shaking his head, "And you're gonna miss a drama club meeting, aren't you?"

"Shoot," she sighed, shaking her head, "Well, I'll get a recap text in the group chat we have. What about you, don't you have a robotics club meeting?"

"Ned can fill me in," he replied, shrugging, "I'm kind of indispensable and the club's short on members, so the most I'll get are some frowns and people telling me to take it seriously. I'm very serious, I'm serious about this."

"Yeah, 'cause this matters," Phillip chimed in, mumbling past his sleep, "Now shut up and go to bed."

"We are in bed," Peter argued, and Aurora giggled, pressing her face into the comforters as her shoulders shook.

"You know what I mean," Phillip scoffed, throwing an arm over his eyes, his chest rising and falling as he breathed, Aurora rising and falling as well, his stomach doing the same, "Briar, it's weird, you don't weigh anything."

She hummed, glancing back towards her sleeping form before turning back around. "Well, you know, I'm a projection. But you can feel me, so I don't...this is weird."

"It is weird," Peter agreed, "I tried doing research on it, but I can't find any underground mutant forums on them, so who knows, really."

"Are we trying to find her?" Phillip asked suddenly, silencing the other two, "Maleficent, I mean? If you break the curse, do you still have to hide or will she just leave you alone now?"

Aurora licked her lips, her skin prickling as she shuddered, shaking her head. She glanced towards the corners of her dark room briefly before turning back away, hiding her face in her arms.

"I don't know," she admitted, "I don't really know much about her, really."

"So what are you going to do when this is all over?" Peter asked, moving so he was lying down as well, looking up at her.

She shook her head. "I don't know. We don't even know if we'll get this done."

"We'll get it done," the boys said immediately, forceful and sure.

She didn't reply, instead simply nodding and moving off of Phillip, crawling over to her sleeping frame, lying down beside herself. With a mumbled, 'good night,' she closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall asleep.

º º º

Aurora frowned as she looked around. She was in a plain white hallway lit with a harsh, clinical light, not an inch around dark or unlit. It wasn't necessarily tight, but the lack of windows or openings made her uneasy, like she couldn't breathe.

"Aurora..."

She stiffened, looking around; she didn't recognize that voice. She felt a strong tug down the hallway, to a point that she couldn't quite see. It wasn't that far away, her mind told her. She began to walk, frowning as the hallway seemed to be leading to nowhere, seeming to stretch further on as she went, but she couldn't tell, unable to see anything except pure white.

"Aurora..."

She jolted at the voice, shuddering as she continued to walk, looking over her shoulder, then back forward, up and down, expecting to see something—someone—but found nothing. She was still alone.

"Aurora."

She yelped, feeling a sharp pain at the back of her neck, waking her up.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 06.25.18 )

To clear this up because the comments i've been getting have been really pissing me off: PETER DOES NOT GET WITH ANYONE IN THIS STORY, HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND AND WON'T BE CHEATING OR BREAKING UP WITH HER, ALSO, IF YOU'RE HERE TO FETISHIZE THE FACT THAT PETER AND PHILLIP ARE BOTH BI YOU CAN LEAVE AND CHOKE BECAUSE THAT IS NOT OKAY! If you comment saying something about Peter getting with either of them, I won't be kind in my responses because I've said this in so many author's notes it's like you guys don't read them.

ALSO! For those who don't know, Zarina is from my T'Challa fic 'Skinny Love' and the boy Peter mentioned he was tutoring is Remy Walsh from my Tony Stark fic 'Broken Lullaby'

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!