Everything had fallen apart this week, despite being over the moon with the now ten weeks you had away from education before being shipped off to college. Why had everything come crashing down in the space of a week?

It was a simple task, but it had somehow managed to ruin the entirety of the time you had away from school. Because you had chosen photography as a core subject, you now had to take and capture over 120 photo's - all originally taken by yourself alone, of different flower breeds for evaluation. It was a stupid topic and you had quickly suggested that you wanted it changing, you did flower portraits in the seventh grade, so why now? Well, apparently, just to make you feel more important, 'the ones which were submitted would be analysed and sent to a lab where they could be used for research and newer graduates to evaluate'. Bullshit. The teacher just wanted to make sure you suffered this term, not to mention you only had two weeks to do it. You were being interviewed in a fortnight and you needed the images for proof of your application. True to say, you'd never been more stressed.

You really wanted a job in photography, because saving the city was getting old. Not to mention you were constantly paired with Peter. He was a good kid, but he was too quiet. It was rare he spoke to you, even in moments of life or death he was too scared to even make eye contact. Prior you were put with Natasha, but it was unluckily short-lived when Peter joined the team around a year ago. Without the corny jokes and historical manner you gained from Natasha, missions were boring and you were forced to concentrate. You could save a life with your eyes closed and it was too easy these days. Not to mention the fact 90% of the time you were doing things alone. Peter was an undergraduate and quoted 'a makeshift' while your father was looking for a new team member. But, when he so-called 'proved himself' after the Manhatten crisis, he was put on the team. With you. You were supposed to coach him or something, which you were quick to subside and it had been almost a month since your last training session.

So, sitting here at your desk casually flicking through the only three photo's you had managed to take and print, you were surprised when there was a knock at your door.

"M' busy" you mumbled, pulling numerous sheets of paper from under your desk and pretending to write something, being Peter he would consider the fact you were telling the truth and leave you be.

"Not too busy for me though," the door opened, your head spinning back at the familiar Sokovian accent to see Wanda entering your room. A smile fell to your cheeks as you spun your chair around to face her, "Parker is waiting for you downstairs"

You groaned, "Can't you tell him I tripped and fell off the face of the earth or something?"

"Sorry, tried the 'measles' leg-pull again but your dad was standing by and quickly confirmed there was nothing wrong with you. So, c' mon, get your ass downstairs" she smirked, lifting you up with her gamma and standing you on your feet. The red glow dissipated as you frowned, a stone-cold 'kill me' expression on your face as you grabbed your boxing gloves from your bedside table and headed out of the door.

"Y' know," you stopped as you waited for Wanda to close your door and joined your side as you made your way through the compound, "M' starting to think there's a favouritism situation going on here"

"With you and Peter?" she cocked her grow gently. You nodded, pursing your lips, "I could crawl in with a broken leg nowadays and my dad wouldn't even give me a bandaid. Heck, if Peter walked in with a cat scratch he'd have the whole of New York's medical assistance at his bedside" you sighed, pulling the glove strings shut and throwing them over your shoulder. Wanda gave a light chuckle.

"Someone's jealous" she tailed out, extending the length of the word as if to send you over the edge of annoyance. You sent her a painful glare, to which she grimaced with a smirk, giving you a playful shove on the shoulder.

"I am not jealous, I'm just annoyed at the fact I'm having to run through the basics with a kid my age. Shouldn't he have known all the training techniques before even becoming an avenger?" you strutted your hands outwards, clearly sending the message to any passing people nearby that you were in a feisty fucking mood, and not to come within a five-meter radius.

"Whatever ever you say, Flor Roja, and just take it easy on the kid. We all have to learn somewhere" she smiled, blowing a sarcastic kiss as your hand braced the handle to the stairwell. Flor Roja was Spanish for Red Flower, and Wanda had given you the nickname upon your first greeting as you were wearing a red rose in your hair, handpicked by Vision.

You made your way down the stairwell, feed purposefully thundering against the metal stairs as if to warn people around you yet again that your presence was near and to be on guard. You couldn't pinpoint whether you were going to allow Peter to take the blame for getting you in a witty mood, or the fact that your emotions were all over the place right now with the project and having to baby a seventeen-year-old 'superhero'.

The now so-called 'gym' had been crafted in your father's old storage room where he kept his suits. However, since the compound had been extended the suits were moved to a more secure department, the room was made into a makeshift gym. More like battleground on a Monday morning at 7 am when Steve, Bucky, Sam, Vision and Clint where down here slowly creating world war three. You almost lost an arm trying to bring their coffee down once. Never again.

But since it was Sunday evening and there wasn't anyone particularly dangerous in sight, you moved in on the room and dropped your gloves on the bench.

"Thought you weren't gonna show for a second" you heard your fathers voice boom around the echoey room, coming from the back of you as you stood.

"Don't tempt me" you sighed, turning around and crossing your arms, "You know more than everyone in the compound put together times 5, why me?" you flared your nose with raised eyebrows, giving your father the clear expression that you were still very unimpressed that he had paired you with Parker. You were the girl who had little time for socialising, but all the time in the world to sit around on your ass and contemplate life.

"Because you're the same age, and besides if this gets you out that room of your's for a couple of hours at the least I'm all for it" your father shrugged, walking over and sitting down beside your gloves. Your eyes followed him, chin tucked into your throat as you were about to spit out another witty comment, however, a thud from your left stopped you.

You turned your head to see Peter, nervously standing in the middle of the mat, hands muddling together. "H-hey"

You looked back to your dad, an expression of 'please don't make me do this' while miming the words "I'll do anything" under your breathe, but your father's shell was hard to break.

"Not a chance, now get in there" he nudged your leg with his foot rather harshly, tossing your gloves towards you. You groaned, death glaring him down harshly before kicking off your shoes and stepping onto the mat.

"You warmed up?" you asked, pulling the tie open with your teeth and dropping the laces to the side of the leather gloves. Peter was hesitant to answer, watching the way your cheeks tilted into a harsh smile as your teeth pulled the strings apart. He could watch you all day. "Hello? Eath to Peter?" you waved a gloved hand in front of him.

"Oh, uh yeah sorry" he nodded, coughing lightly before bouncing from one foot to the other.

"We're not in a race, you don't need to-"

"He's just warming up" your dad cut you off, a prime example of the semi-rant you were having earlier about favouritism. Now you knew and allowed Peter to continue warming up because after you were finished with him he'd have to take a serious cool down in med jack. You wanted to slow down and attempt to control the anger bubbling in your chest, run away and put a mask over the fact you were green with envy. But you just stood there, breathing cautiously as you tightened the laces on your gloves.

"You ready?"

"Yeah-"

"Good" you slid down immediately, kicking your legs forward and knocking him down before jumping back onto your feet. Even Tony was surprised at your sudden movement.

"W-what?-"

"It's all about surprises, Parker, it's not all about how strong you are You gotta be aware of your surroundings" you explained as you circled him treacherously. He was slow onto his feet, and your foot was quick to kick him back down, presumably knocking the wind from his chest as he winced in pain.

"Y/N go easy will y-"

"Dad how do you expect him to be ready for a real mission when he can't even-"

A yelp left your lips as your feet were pulled from beneath you, but your hands were quick around your back, stopping it from hitting the ground. You head spun forward, seeing Peter smirking, which quickly dissipated when he saw his plan was not so devious. You lifted your leg to move however he quickly pinned it back down, pulling you beneath him and locking your arms by your sides.

"Can't even what?" he asked cockily, but he was too smitten by the fact he was winning that he had made an obvious mistake. You knee came up quickly and with force between his legs, knocking him straight in the junk. He caved momentarily, giving you the quick opportunity to roll over and straddle him with your weight, hand slipping into your underbody carriage and pulling out your pocket knife.

The label of the blade shone dangerously as it hit the skin of Peter's throat, your dad reaching the edges of the mat as your eyes pierced through Peter's soul, nose flared and teeth clenched. You were forced to pull away as your father grabbed your arms, hoisting you onto your feet. His expression was dark, and the all too familiar look of disappointment you had seen so many times staring right back at you.

"You know your not allowed weapons in the facility!" he growled deeply, but before he could grasp the knife you threw it across the room, untying your gloves and throwing them along with it. You truthfully had no answer to your dad's declaration, as you knew you weren't allowed in the facility with it on you. But you dad knew you didn't leave your room without that pocket knife. "Your lucky I was here to stop you-"

"What you really think I would have taken it further? Heck, I don't need a knife to kill the kid he'd be dead in seconds if we really went at it-"

"What has gotten into you, young lady?" Your father scoffed rather surprised and disappointed, and for some reason, your eyes fell to Peter. The look on his face struck you, guilt filling your chest. You didn't mean it, deep down inside you didn't. But the rising parts of you did and they were the only ones surfing right now.

"C-can I ask something?" Peter stepped forward, chest heaving as if he were to have a panic attack. Both your own and your father's heads snapped back to look at him, and he continued, "I don't know much, but you've clearly got something on your mind. So, why don't you just fight it out?"

"Good point, go and get Steve-"

"N-No, I meant with me..." Peter swallowed, interrupting your father. He looked around to Peter, before looking back to you. He could see you were holding back laughter, and he wanted to permanently scold you for it. But, instead, he moved to Peter taking him by the shoulder and leading him to the corner of the room for a more private conversation.

"Kid, are you asking for an early funeral? She's a teenage girl with a witty mood you'll be on the staircase to heaven before you can say Cha Cha-"

"Mr. Stark," Peter took a deep breath, stopping and turning to face him, "Look, whatever this is it has to do with me. I don't know what happened, but there is something going on with her and whatever it is, she just needs to get it out of her system. So... If beating me up helps, I'm up for it" he shrugged, hands fumbling together lightly as he looked over at you. You were pacing on the edges of the mat, throwing and catching a tennis ball you had found.

"Kid, if you're going full out I can't guarantee your safety," Tony looked back to you, throwing the tennis ball at the wall and watching it dash past your head, "she was trained by some of the most dangerous people in the compound, she has way more tricks up her sleeve than you realise-"

"Yeah and so do I, Mr Stark. Please, I'll be okay, she's not gonna hurt me" Peter gave a fake smile, because not so deep down inside he knew he was about to get a very bad kick in the gut. And, he knew he couldn't hurt you back. Because he liked you. He'd liked you for a long time and this wasn't going to faze that.

Tony finally sighed, patting his shoulder with hesitation.

"Alright kid, I'll have Med Jack on the phone just in case" he nodded briefly, letting Peter go. The boy nodded, taking a shaky breath and he looked back over to you, who was now staring back at him. Your expression had somewhat become soft until he got closer and the harsh tone suddenly flooded back over your face. You were like a mother cat trying to protect her young from the darkness of the world, and Peter seemed to be that darkness.

"So, you're just gonna let me beat the shit out of you for free?" you asked, moving back into the middle of the mat and tying your hair into a tight ponytail.

"I could say the same thing, but that would be unrealistic" he smiled awkwardly, looking over to your dad who was sitting nervously on the bench. There were no barriers, no rules, nothing that could prevent you from hurting Peter. Seriously hurting him. But, coming to it, you asked yourself if that was seriously something you wanted to do.

You knew your dad loved the kid, sometimes you thought more than his own daughter. So you'd really be breaking your dad's heart if you gave him an early death.

"I'll go easy, for my dad's sake" you sucked your teeth as you looked over at your father, rolling his eyes. Peter nodded nervously, opening his stance for balance as you shook your hands a little. There was a moment of stillness, both of you contemplating who was to make the first move. And to your surprise, it was Peter. But, then again you saw it coming from a mile away.

He lunged at you with full force, gripping you by the waist, but you were quick to push him back, reaching your leg around and knocking the back of his knee making him cave to his thighs. But, he was quick to stand with your back facing him, webbing your arms around your back.

You spun around, trying to look as you felt the liquid sticking to your skin, "Wait a second-!" but before you could finish Peter had you down on your back once again. He made a move to pounce, but your legs came up too quickly, throwing him off guard, literally, and over to the back of the room. You rolled over and onto your feet, pulling your arms apart and making a run towards him. You kicked off the wall he was standing near, wrapping your legs around his neck and threw him to the ground, keeping him still as you pinned his arms down.

"So," you panted, "he's allowed web's, but I'm not allowed knives?!" 

"Knives are dangerous!" Peter groaned in his own defence.

"Um, hello?! Richocette webs! Taser Webs! Do I need to go on?" you retorted, and Peter gave in with little defence. He slipped his arms from underneath you, rubbing his wrists gently.

"What is it too much for you?" Peter smirked cockily, making your blood boil. You snapped over to him, but you didn't make a move.

"I'll admit, you've got some strong shit in those" you avoided eye contact. It's not that you didn't want to admit it, you didn't want to build Peter's ego. Peter would thrive from whatever he could, compliments or simple gratitude and use it in his defence.

"Tony," the door to the gym opening caught all of your attention, seeing Natasha standing in the doorway, "Banner wants you in the lab, says he's got something out of that plant you've been studying" she gave a look of confusion, followed by yourself and Peter.

"I'll be up in a minute" he nodded, standing and looking over to the two of you. Natasha nodded, sending you a smile which you returned before leaving.

"So, your career has dimmed so much that your now studying plants...?" you snickered, Peter joining in, but the two of you quickly quietened once you caught Tony's glare.

"Actually, it's one of the plants that we managed to get from the Alien Attackers last week, so calm your ego. Well, I say we, more like Steve but who cares"

"Just go and water your little plants, dad" you rolled your eyes with a smile, collecting your gloves you threw to the side of the room and making your beeline to the door.

"Wait, you're not gonna continue training?" Peter asked, voice a little high with confusion. You spun on your heels to face him, one hand gripping the door frame.

"I'll take any opportunity to discontinue, Parker. Have fun on your own" you waved him off, throwing the door open and quickly making your way back to the sanctuary of your room.

"When am I ever gonna win her over, Mr Stark?" Peter asked a little disappointed. He had been trying to win your good side over for months and still, nothing had budged. He'd tried pretty much everything in the book, and Tony's advice. Still nothing. Tony had helped all he could, but you were a Stark.

"She's a Stark, kid. You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to get her to like you. It's taken me seventeen years" he smiled, shaking his head lightly. Despite it being annoying that the majority of your childhood you'd had your walls up high, even with your own father, and it had taken him until now to break them down - he was proud of you. He couldn't wish for anyone better, because you were a play hard to get, strong and confident and he loved it. But, so did Peter.

"I just wish she'd realise how much I really like her" Peter mumbled, picking up the knife you had left behind and cradling it in his hand. Peter had firstly confessed his feelings for you to your father, after it being bottled up for so long that he couldn't take it anymore. It was harsh at first because all Tony would do was tease, but after a little while, he decided he'd try and help. If it wasn't Peter, it was going to be some douche from your high school. So, Tony took it as the perfect opportunity. Yet, you were a hard shell to crack.

"I know kid, just give her some time and she'll come around" Tony gave a reassuring smile, "Oh, and you'll probably wanna drop that off, too. She'll come for your neck if she finds out you have it" he gave Peter a wink before leaving. Peter swallowed, looking down at the blade in his hand, but more or less at his reflection. At least it gave him the excuse to come and see you.