Brad yawned and stretched, mind blanking as he tried to remember where he was.

Oh, that's right. The field trip.

He rolled over and looked over the beds at MJ, who was missing. Brad sat up, panicking slightly before he remembered the events of the previous nights.

Peter had had a nightmare, left the room, then MJ had gone with him and they never came back.

Brad clenched his fists. Anger and jealousy bubbled inside. What did MJ see in that idiot? He was just a scrawny little nobody who got everything he wanted. His parents probably spoil him rotten. And now he had gone and stolen MJ.

Brad pondered for a little bit. He knew Peter had a secret, and he didn't know what it was exactly, but he thought it could be linked to the video.

"Flash, are you awake?"

Flash mumbled something and sat up, looking up at Brad. "What."

"I need you to look at something for me."

Flash frowned, all traces of irritation replaced by curiosity. "What is it?"

Brad moved over as Flash sat down and handed him an ear bud. "This was last night when Peter went to get food."

They started the video and Flash's eyes widened.

"What is it?"

"That's Peter's aunt."

"What is she doing at the tower? Does she work there?"

Flash scratched his neck. "No, I don't think she does. It has to be related through Peter some way."

"Why Peter? Why not her husband or something?"

"He died. When Peter was 14. Peter was away for a few days after that happened."

"Did he seriously need a few days? What did his parents think?"

Flash looked at Brad, surprised. "You don't know?" He asked incredulously.
"Parker's an orphan."

Something clicked in Brad's brain. He already felt guilty for thinking it, but he might be able to get MJ back.

"Oh... that's... new. So did anything change with Peter when his uncle died?"

Flash nodded, oblivious to Brad's plan and went on to talk about how Peter didn't have glasses anymore, how he suddenly would leave a class and not come back, the trip in DC, Homecoming, how he vanished on the way to MoMa and finally how whenever something drastic happened, Peter seemed to leave just before it strikes.

Brad nodded slowly, smirking slightly. He had a plan.

Flash, on the other hand, was listening to himself and stopped. Peter always vanished right before Spider-Man came. He also had vanished off a moving bus. Clearly something was going on there.
Flash narrowed his eyes, locked in concentration.
The trip in Europe. Peter said he was going to stay with family in Berlin, but he left before the class did. He didn't even take his suitcase, which was weird. At that time, or a day or two later, Night Monkey was found in a train yard in the Netherlands. And as far as Flash knew, they were both pretty similar. Then, just as they were about to die, Spider-Man swung in to London and saved the day. So why were MJ, Ned and Betty running with Spider-Man's... whatever he was? And did he mention something about an aunt?

It was slowly fitting together.

"I need to go to the bathroom."
Flash jumped off the bed and slipped into the ensuite.

Evie pokes her head in the door. "Good morning sleepy heads! Sorry, I'm a morning person, I've just spent a whole hour reading and writing."

"But it's 7 o'clock," Sally mumbles sleepily.

"Exactly my point. Ok, wakey wakey, we gotta be at the training rooms by nine. And wear some sporty gear." With that, she slipped back into her room.

"Where's Peter and MJ?" Sam asked as he pulled out his clothes.

"I think they left last night after the whole..." Betty waved her hand.

"I hope she's ok."

"Brad, it wasn't MJ who had the nightmare."

Brad shrugged and turned to his bag, pulling out his clothes. He glanced over at the bunk bed on the far wall, the two bags stowed neatly under.

Every one was ready except for Brad, who had to finish getting changed. He told them that he'd meet them at breakfasts which left the room to himself. The teen pulled the two bags out from under the bed and paused. Which one was who's? He thought back to what MJ liked to do. She read a lot, but she also liked to draw. Brad smiled and pulled out the sketch book, missing the glimpse of red that simmered through underneath before it got smothered by a shirt.

The teenager opened the book and flipped through the pages. They were rather skilled artworks, mostly black and white with the occasional colour.
There was one of MJ, her curly hair dancing in a slight breeze. She looked gorgeous.
There was one with Peter hugging the woman Brad now knew as Peter's aunt. The detail was immaculate: MJ seemed to have gotten the small scar on Peter's eyebrow.
Another image caught Brad's eye. The couple were young, looking lovingly down at the little boy in their arms. He was smiling, his hair curled in tight ringlets.

Who is this? Why did MJ draw them?

He flipped through a couple of Spider-Man sketches and a sketch of someone drawing what looked like a dancing monkey in a Captain America costume.

Brad reached the end of the drawings, flipping through the blank pages. He went to put it back in the bag before he saw the shirt. It was a shirt that Peter wore, something about finding X.

Brad had been looking at Peter's sketches, not MJ's.

He panicked, stuffing the book back in the bag and shoving them back to their spots. He got changed and ran out to meet the other kids.

"Ok, and then you want to grab their arm here and flip them over." Natasha moved MJ's hand on her arm and indicated for the girl to flip.

MJ was ecstatic. Peter had taken her from breakfast with the frickin Avengers to the training room where they were waiting for their class. Natasha had volunteered to teach some self-defence and was teaching MJ some little tricks. Peter made a wise decision and stayed away, knowing what the two could do if they both teamed up. He was currently tic-taccing and wall-climbing the parkour unit. He was the only one who could do it in their first go, and it was quite fitting with his last name.

The spider ran up one of the walls and vaulted over the side, swinging in a loop around a horizontal pole before flipping through the air and landing in a roll.

"What the heck?"

Everyone in the training room stopped. The decathlon team stood in the doorway, watching as the shy, gangly nerd flipped his way through the course with ease.

Peter hunched his shoulders nervously. "Um, hi."

"Welcome to the training room!" Steve walked over from his punching bags, (which Peter was not allowed to touch since he put a fist straight through one,) and smiled. "Peter, MJ come join us."

The pair walked awkwardly over and sat down next to Ned.

"Here we have different stations. We have Natasha with self defence, Clint with archery, me with boxing, Bucky with guns, they're not real, don't worry, and we'd usually have Spider-Man with parkour but he's not here."

"Peter could do it." Ned stooped as he got elbowed by three people simultaneously. "Ow. Never mind."

Steve chuckled. "Ok, split yourselves into groups and come with us."

Somehow Ned and Betty ended up with Cindy and Abe while MJ and Peter ended up with Flash and Brad. Flash didn't mind too much, but it was Brad who was fuming.

They first went to archery with Clint who was still chuckling from everything before. "I'm Hawkeye, but you guys can call me Clint. Grab a bow and let's begin!"

Evie decided to roam around the different stations, so she joined in with the archery.

"Ok, pull the string back, yup, like that, and just lower your elbow a bit. Now, release." Clint walked around, helping the students fire. MJ and Evie were fine, notching arrow after arrow  and firing them. Apparently book nerds know their stuff. Peter wasn't doing too bad, getting the occasional tip from Clint. Brad, however, had no clue what he was doing. He'd have rather spent time on the court, dribbling the ball and shooting hoops.

They rotated through the activities, Peter having to assist rather that participate when it came to the punching bags, and they eventually left, sweaty and hot.

"Alright, go get changed and meet me back here for a discussion with Captain America."

They hurriedly obliged and found themselves waiting eagerly outside the doors of the meeting room.

"Wait, guys." Evie beckoned for the team to huddle in. "You know those PSA's? Yeah, well, I have a plan..."

Steve looked up at the doors as the small group marched in silently, expressions blank. He spotted Peter and smiled as the boy sat close to the front. What was creepy was when they simultaneously flipped their chairs around and sat down, an arm resting on the back of the chair.

"So... you got detention."

Steve dropped his head backwards before burying his face in his hands.

"You know what you did wrong. The question is, what are you going to do to fix it?"

By this point someone was trying to contain themselves, but failed, dissolving into giggles at the Captain's red face.

"Who planned this?"

Evie and Peter pointed at each other, trying to switch the blame.

"You two, no playing Mario Kart for a week."

They started to protest but Cap held up a hand. "I'm in charge here thank you. Be glad I'm not putting glitter bombs in your beds."

The duo were silent after that.

Well almost.

"Yes Mr Capsicle sir."

"We won't disappoint you, Captain Spangles sir."

Steve sighed as the rest of the room giggled. Evie and Peter kept the straightest faces possible.

"I'm gonna talk to Tony about this... anyway. Welcome, Midtown Tech, to the Avengers Tower!"

The talk was short, allowing the other avengers to have their own little talk session with the class. It was great fun.

Ned bounced okn the balls of his feet. "I can't believe were having dinner with the Avengers!"

"You're such a dork. You've literally played Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros with them. Several times, might I add."

"Yeah, but still!"

Peter chuckled. Ned was such a fanboy at times.

The elevator dinged and Evie lead them out. "This is the living quarters. This is where the Avengers who don't have family stay. Some of them bring their family here to stay. Please do not roam and stay with us please.

They walked into the room, the team gaping at the food-covered table. All of the Avengers were there, except Ironman. No one knew he was alive except for the Avengers, May, Ned and MJ. It was a secret while he recovered from Titan, so he was with his family downstairs.

Steve clapped his hands. "We decided that since there is so many of us, we just grab food and eat in the living room because that easier then trying to find tables and space. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded and rushed for the food. Peter set a plate aside for when he finished his first plate.

It was a fun night, playing games and chatting loudly. Natasha had secretly planted a glitter bomb in Peter's pocket for later. Payback for shooting her in the war.

After a while Peter stood up. "I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be back." He slipped quietly out of the room and into the bathroom.

I miss patrol. Wonder if I can do it tomorrow night.

The teen dried his hands and walked out of the room, flinching when his neck buzzed abruptly.

"Peter, can I have a word?"

Peter looked at Brad warily. Shy was his spidey sense (or Peter Tingle) going off? "Sure. What's up?"

"I don't understand how you think you're good enough for MJ."

The brown haired boy blinked. "Che cosa?"

"I know you like her and all, but she really deserves someone better. Someone who can actually care for her without running off and ditching her."

"When did I ever do that?"

"I heard about Homecoming."

Peter visibly tensed at the memory.

"You just left Liz. You told her that she didn't deserve to be there with you."

Peter's face flushed. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that she didn't deserve-... She didn't deserve having a dad as a criminal."

"How did you know?"

"I-I'm friends with Spider-Man."

Brad scoffed. "Yeah right. Like anyone as worthless as you could be friends with a frickin avenger. Your uncle probably died because of you. And your good pal Spider-Man? You can tell him from me that it's his fault Tony Stark died. The two of you are worthless. So why don't you do us all a favour an-"

"Shut it."

Brad surveyed his victim. His clenched jaw twitched as his nostrils flared. The usually bright eyes were downcast and watching the floor, growing wetter every second. A tear splashed on the ground.

"Don't say stuff you don't mean. I'm not going to run from MJ, because she knows me. She knows who I am. I don't want her to cause it puts her in danger, but she's too smart. I ran from Liz because I couldn't tell her. So don't say stuff you don't mean it understand."

Brad looked down at Peter. "Leave MJ alone and I won't make you regret anything. I know you deleted that photo. MJ doesn't deserve you. You're pathetic and weak and useless. I mean, look at you. You're just a crybaby with no parents and no money. And its all your fault. Ask anyone. No one loves you. MJ's just dealing with you because she didn't want you to feel bad. But you can make her happy. Just break up and she can be happy with someone better than you."

Peter nodded. "Can I get through now?"

"Do you understand? I can make your life miserable, Peter."

They boy looked into Brad's eyes, tears streaming down his face. "It already is. I don't think you get it." And with that, he bolted down the corridor and out the glass doors to the balcony.

Wanda played with her nails. She was getting anxious with everyone in the room. There was so many people, and she didn't like it. What if she hurt someone? What if something happened and she makeed a mistake and no one liked her anymore? What if she ended up back on the Raft?

She stopped and forced herself to breathe. She was safe here, with her friends and family.

Clint noticed her uneasiness and rubbed her shoulder gently, relaxing the tension.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded. "I'm alright. There's just a lot of people. I might take a walk."

Clint nodded and the girl made her way down the hall in the semi-darkness.

She headed toward her bedroom but stopped. The balcony on the other end looked so inviting, so she grabbed a blanket and pushed open the doors.

What she was expecting was the small  huddled figure on the edge.

"Peter?"

The boy turned around. "Hey Wandie." His voice cracked.

She sat down next to him and placed the blanket around their shoulders. "What happened? Do I need to kill someone?"

Peter shook his head, a smile playing lightly on his lips. "No, I just..."

"Can I see?" She reached for his hand as he nodded.

The witch closed her eyes and squeezed her little brothers hand as she watched the memories from the past few minutes. When she opened her eyes she was shaking with anger.

"Are you sure I can't kill him?"

"No. That's illegal. No killing minors." He looked at his hands.

They sat in silence for a little while, sister rubbing her brother's back as they watched the lights move below them.

"I know what he said isn't true. But it still hurts."

"I know. Sometimes when we lose those closest to us, it's hard not to feel like it's our fault. But you must remember that you are not alone and that it isn't your fault."

"I know."

"Neither of us pulled the triggers."

Peter looked at the amber eyes that glistened in the moonlight.

"My brother, Pietro, died saving Clint. He ran in front of him and took the bullets for him. I felt like my world had fallen apart and that it was all my fault."

Peter pulled her into a hug. "It's ok. He made that choice."

"I know. And it takes time. But we learn and we change." She shifted so her arm was around his small back. "Life is like a hike. Sometimes we find ourselves walking alongside others. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck in valleys that we have to climb out. Life has it's flat moments and it's hilly moments. The hardest things are the mountains. The can be really big hills or they are sheer cliffs that tower above us. We may want to give up, to stay there, but we have to keep going. And at the top, it's beautiful. We can see how far we have come and we can see all of our limitless opportunities."

"Wow." Peter rested his head on her shoulder. "Thanks."

"And Peter?"

"Hm?"

"You will always be my brother, no matter what happens. I love you so, so much. You make me smile on ways I've never smiled before."

"You too."

They sat in silence, enjoying the company, brother and sister, helping each other climb their personal mountains.

Together.