Once May and Ned had been returned safely home through a portal, the rest of the group broke apart as well. Nat gave me a little peck on the cheek, our hands lingering interlocked for a brief moment, before she left with Rhodey to talk about boring government liaison stuff. Steve and Sam said they were heading for the training space in the hangar for a light warmup, and told us to drop by once we’d finished at the labs. Pietro and I followed along with Peter, Tony taking the lead.

Just outside our destination, I touched Peter on the shoulder to ask him to wait. “Hey Tony? Can I just have a real quick second with Peter first?”

Tony’s eyes narrowed briefly, but then he shrugged. “Sure. I’ll head in and let Bruce and our Princess know we’ve got a visitor.”

I waited until he’d headed inside, standing quietly with Pietro and Peter for a few moments before I turned to the teen, swallowing nervously. “Hey, so, um,” I started, suddenly anxious again. I rubbed at my arm absently. “Peter, I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry about what happened. HYDRA. Putting May and Ned in danger. I almost got you killed. Just… everything.”

“Oh,” he straightened up, a flash of concern passing across his face. “No, you don’t have to be sorry! You didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know. I still feel responsible.”

He paused for a moment, his eyes flicking to Pietro briefly before he averted his eyes, looking down and to the side. “I… in the Tower. When I got shot.” He swallowed. “When you were trying to help me and you just… you fell over. Stopped moving. I was so sure, for a second, that you’d died. That you’d died and it was my fault.”

“How could it have been your fault?”

“Because I shouldn’t have gotten shot!” he said, his voice a little thicker with emotion. “You kept trying to tell me that we shouldn’t fight, but I was so sure I could take them and…” he trailed off with a slightly shaky breath.

“Hey, no.” I reached out and took hold of his arm. He was trembling a little. Not much, but enough that I could feel it. “I know no teenager ever likes to hear this, but you’re still just a kid, Peter. I was the adult in the situation, and I put you in danger.”

Peter was quiet, his jaw working silently for a moment before he looked back up at me. He wasn’t on the verge of tears, exactly, but his eyes were a little shinier than they had been and his cheeks were flushed. For the first time since we’d picked him up, I noticed that he had slight dark circles under his eyes.

Fuck. This was my fault. I had kept putting off talking to Peter because I’d felt guilty and didn’t want to face him, telling myself that he probably didn’t want to see me. I’d been so worried that he’d be upset with me, but the whole time he’d been blaming himself for what had happened. It was starting to feel like I just couldn’t do anything right.

“You did good, okay?” I said firmly. “If I didn’t do anything wrong, then neither did you. If anything, you saved me. I think I probably would have died if you hadn’t been there. Come here.”

I pulled Peter’s arm gently and he very easily let me draw him into a hug, putting his arms around me and holding on tightly for a moment. Rubbing the back of his head soothingly with one hand, I glanced over at Pietro, who gave me a tight smile, sympathy written across his features. After a second, I pulled back from the embrace and looked at Peter seriously. He hid his face a little, wiping at his eyes with his wrist.

“Have you been sleeping okay?” I asked softly.

“Not really. I’ve…” He hesitated, clearly not really wanting to admit he’d been having nightmares. “…just been having some bad dreams. That’s all,” he settled on.

I squeezed his arm. “Look, I’m not an Avenger, but my original offer to you is still there. I’ll give you my number. If there’s anything you need… anything. Even if you just want someone to talk to. I’ll be there. Okay?”

Peter nodded. “Thanks. I… that… just thanks.” He took a deep breath to steady himself, then hesitated again, glancing back in the direction we came before looking back at me. “Uh. I hope it’s not rude to ask, but are you and Ms Romanoff…?”

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“Cool. That’s cool,” he said, then frowned, shaking his head and looking at me with a touch of confusion. “I don’t get it, though. She’s an Avenger. Your brother’s an Avenger. You’ve got powers. You fought with them… why aren’t you an Avenger?”

I fidgeted for a moment, feeling small and tired all of a sudden, and sighed. “I really wish everyone would stop asking me that. It’s complicated, Peter. I don’t really want to talk about it, if that’s okay.”

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t—”

“Hey,” Pietro interjected, stepping forward to pat Peter on the shoulder. “We should probably go up, yeah? Don’t want to keep Stark waiting.”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Peter nodded, straightening up again.

I shot my brother a grateful smile. “Let’s go.”

Tony met us at the top of the stairs and gestured for us to follow him. With the space to spread out afforded by the size of the compound, an entire floor of the building had been claimed as an extensive set of labs—I knew Dr Cho’s stuff was being set up in here somewhere as well, but we didn’t see her, instead beelining for the engineering wing, stepping through a sliding door that opened and closed silently.

A decent amount of equipment had been set up already, but it was still a clear work in progress, almost half of the space taken up by a mix of neatly arranged metal crates and haphazardly unpacked and stacked machine parts. A pair of autonomous robotic arms rolled around the far end, slowly but surely assembling what I was pretty sure was some sort of large, complex fabricator that Tony used for rapid prototyping of parts.

Shuri was at a workstation close to the door and stood up as we entered. She was wearing a long, bright orange coat, sleeveless with a high collar, the black straps of the top she had on underneath hanging off her shoulders. Her long braids hung loose about her shoulders, intricately-wrought golden caps threaded onto the ends. I felt a little underdressed and slovenly in comparison, and wondered vaguely how long it took her to get ready in the morning. She shot me a baleful glare, her posture stiff. I raised my hand in an awkward half-wave, shooting her a tight but hopefully friendly smile. I still didn’t really know how to act around her, but I didn’t want to do or say anything that might cause her to snap or get angry.

I felt about ninety-nine per cent sure that Peter and Shuri were going to get along like a house on fire. He was a few years younger than her, but he was a lot closer to her age than Tony and Bruce. They were both super smart—Shuri more so, of course, but Peter was no slouch—with similar scientific/tech interests, and her dry, slightly-smug sense of humour was along the same lines as MJ’s. I really didn’t want my presence to mean that they had a bad first impression of each other. Maybe it would have been better for me to just leave Peter with Tony, though it was a bit late for that now.

Tony took the lead and gestured dramatically toward her, bowing his head slightly. “Peter Parker, I’d like you to meet Princess Shuri, our resident royal, visiting from Wakanda. Just Shuri, like a rockstar or the Pope.”

Tony’s introduction was enough to pull Shuri’s attention off of me and she rolled her eyes a little, turning slightly to very firmly ignore me and giving Peter a tight smile. “Hello, Peter Parker.”

Peter’s eyes had gone wide, like a deer caught in headlights. “Uh, hi! Hello, princess, um, you—” he fumbled, lurching awkwardly forward in a stiff half-bow. “I’m… I’m Peter.”

Oh. Oh no.

“Yes, I know,” Shuri said, mild amusement in her tone. “I hear you’ll be an Avenger-in-training?”

“Yeah! Um, I’m… I’m Spiders.” Peter paused, looking panicked. “Uh, Spider-Man! I'm Spider-Man.” He swallowed nervously, hands balled into fists at his sides as he went quiet.

Jesus Christ, the kid was drowning.

“Peter’s actually a bit of a science guy,” I jumped in, valiantly trying to rescue him. “Midtown School of Science and Technology, top of his class. Programming, engineering, biochemistry. He invented his own synthetic spiderweb—its ridiculous stuff, tensile strength is off the charts.”

A flicker of annoyance passed across Shuri’s face at my interruption—she glared at me again momentarily before her expression softened and she looked back at Peter. Even though she didn’t like me, I was pretty sure she’d caught my intent. “Is that so?” she asked. “When you’ve had a chance to settle in, I’d be interested in taking a look at the formula, if you’d be willing to share it?”

Tony had his phone out, flicking it forward to project a small holographic screen showing one of the videos a bystander had caught of Peter web-slinging around the city. “It’s pretty impressive stuff, yeah,” he said, then pulled a face. “Shame about that onesie, though.”

“…It’s not a onesie,” Peter responded sullenly, a little deflated.

Tony shot him a sceptical look. “Either way, you are in dire need of an upgrade; systemic, top to bottom. A hundred-point restoration. Don’t worry, we’ll sort you out. Part of the perks of the team.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“I have somewhere else I need to be,” Shuri announced suddenly. She walked over toward us and I sensed Peter stiffen a little as she drew closer, stopping an arm’s length away from him. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon. It was nice to meet you, Peter Parker.”

“I- I’m nice to meet. Um, I mean, it was nice to meeting you, too.” His mouth snapped shut and I winced a little. Absolutely mortifying. Okay, yeah, I’d slightly miscalculated the implications of introducing the teenage boy to the attractive, highly intelligent princess… Hopefully that wouldn’t cause any problems.

Shuri shot him one more amused look before she continued past us and out the door.

Once she was gone, Peter whipped around to face me, a look of betrayal on his face. “You didn’t tell me I was going to meet a princess!” he hissed.

Over on the other side of the room, Tony tried not to snigger. I held up my hands defensively and gestured toward him. “Tony said!”

“I thought it was, like, a nickname or something! That he was making a joke!”

“I didn’t think it was that big a deal!”

“It’s not a big deal! I just… ugh.” He paused and bit his lip, his expression thoughtful. “She really doesn’t like you, does she?”

I winced again. “It’s complicated. Probably just don’t mention me at all when you talk to her.”

He frowned at that, but nodded. “…Okay, if you say so.”

Tony stepped over and clapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon, kid, I’ll show you what we’re working with, here.”

We spent the next forty-five minutes touring the labs—it would have gone a lot faster, but Peter quickly got comfortable and had a million excited questions to ask. He and Tony got sidetracked a few times, delving into a discussion of science and tech stuff that I didn’t really understand. I hung back a step or two, listening quietly, my attention drifting elsewhere for the most part. Pietro seemed more interested than I was, even asking a question or two himself. As we went, Peter got brief introductions to Bruce and Dr Cho as well, the latter of whom I was also meeting for the first time.

Afterwards, Tony got a phone call he had to take and said he’d see us at lunch, so Pietro and I snagged Peter and headed across the compound to the hangar. The teen rubbernecked a little at the Quinjet that was currently parked on the landing pad at the front of the building as we passed it by, heading through to the exercise/training centre that took up about a third of the indoor space.

Steve, Bucky and Sam were sitting on a couple of benches next to the multipurpose sports court, drinking from water bottles and chatting a little. They’d changed from the clothes they were wearing earlier into some light activewear—Steve and Bucky still looked pretty fresh, but Sam had massive sweat patches staining his shirt. The perils of being an unenhanced person training with two super soldiers, I guess.

Steve shot us a smile as we approached. “Hey! How’d the tour go?”

“Amazing. There’s just so much cool stuff,” Peter said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Mr Stark said he would help design a new suit for me! It’s… all of this is so unbelievable. It’s like a dream.”

“And Shuri’s interested in taking a look at his webbing,” I chimed in.

Peter reddened slightly. The three guys didn’t miss it, Steve and Bucky exchanging a small smile and knowing look. Casually, Bucky reached behind the bench and produced a basketball, spinning it effortlessly on his finger. “We’ve got a little bit of time before lunch. What do you think? In the mood for a little three-a-side?”

“The three of us against the three of you?” I asked, a little uncertainly. I actually had very little experience playing basketball, and the little grin Bucky had on his face put me in mind of a shark sizing up his next meal.

He shrugged. “Sure. I mean, if the kid’s up for it.”

I looked over at the teen. “Peter?”

Peter blinked, a small smile plastered across his face. “Uh, yeah. That sounds fun.” He sounded really nervous. I supposed it was still sinking in that he was actually here and would be interacting with the team on a regular basis from now on—it’s not every day that you get asked if you want to play basketball with some of the Avengers.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Sam protested. “I am literally the only normal person here.”

“Don’t worry, Sam, we’ll keep it clean.” Steve chuckled, clapping his hands together as he stood. “Ten minutes. No super strength dunks, no super speed, and no magic,” he said, looking pointedly between Pietro and I.

Pietro shrugged, a cheeky look on his face. “Cowards.”

“Sure, fine,” I said with a grin. “Me and my boys don’t need powers to run circles around a normie and a couple of senior citizens. Right, Ps?” My confidence might have been misplaced, but hell if I was going to back down from the challenge. I had enhanced reflexes and strength from the Heart-Shaped Herb, so I should at least be able to keep up with everyone else.

“Right,” Peter responded, chuckling nervously.

Steve retrieved a coin from somewhere and held it ready, glancing at the teenager before he flicked it into the air. “Call it.”

“Uh, heads.”

Steve checked the result. “Tails,” he said with a small, smirk. “We’ll start.”

Bucky tossed Peter the ball and we moved onto the court. Embarrassingly, Steve had to move me into position, patiently explaining that the defence needed to start inside the arc. Oh, good, half-court had extra rules that I didn’t know. When everyone was ready, the game started with Peter passing the ball to Bucky.

Pietro and I moved to intercept, but Bucky spun and managed to thread the ball precisely between us, passing to Steve—it was immediately clear that they’d played together a lot. Steve stepped around Peter in a fluid motion and took the first shot from outside the arc, with none of our team in a position to stop it.

The ball swished cleanly through the hoop.

“Two-nothing,” he said with a shrug, like it was no big deal.

Oh, damn. Me and my big mouth. We were about to get rinsed.

Pietro grabbed the ball from under the basket. He threw it to me, but I wasn’t completely ready for it. I caught it, my enhanced reflexes kicking in, but froze as Bucky stepped into my path—I wasn’t sure which way to go. His smirk was infuriatingly smug.

“Go on,” he teased, eyes flashing with amusement. “Don’t let the ‘senior citizen’ spook you.”

I faked left then bolted to the right, doing what I thought was a passable job of dribbling the ball. Bucky moved with me, forcing me to spin and pass to Peter, who zipped around Steve like he’d been bitten by a radioactive LeBron James rather than a spider. He launched a shot from just outside the arc and it bounced off the rim.

Steve snagged the rebound. “Nice try, kid,” he said, tossing the ball back out to Bucky—who I was stupidly not marking. Bucky flicked the ball right back in to Sam. Pietro narrowly missed intercepting it and Sam made a quick layup.

“Three-nothing,” Bucky said, his smirk widening.

Peter nodded, his eyes narrowing a little as something clicked into place. He was relentless after that. Locked in. He darted and dodged, somehow managing to get around Steve and Bucky to pass to Pietro, who was free and clear to score our first basket.

The next few plays were a blur of movement and adrenaline, Sam and I both being edged out by the others—Sam was struggling to keep up and, despite the benefits granted by the Heart-Shaped Herb, I was pretty obviously the least-skilled player there. Even with me as a lead weight around my team’s neck, Peter was faster and stronger than the super soldiers, and he and Pietro working together managed to close the gap to 7-6. Honestly, I’d been expecting Pietro to give up and cheat with his speed, but he played well without getting frustrated—he even seemed to be enjoying having the handicap.

It came down to one final play. Peter had the ball and I darted into the open, just inside the arc. Sam moved to block, but Peter easily lobbed the ball past him with a quick shout. I caught it, turned, and took the shot. It felt perfect as it left my hands, soaring through the air toward the hoop.

And then Bucky’s metal arm came out of nowhere, swatting it down with a resounding smack.

Without slowing, he scooped up the ball and passed it out to Steve, who threw just as the alarm went off—signalling the end of the game—sinking a final long shot with the calm precision of someone who’s done it a thousand times before.

Peter groaned, flopping dramatically onto the ground. “Aw, man.”

“And that’s game,” Steve said, grinning as he held his hand up for Bucky to high five him. Sam was bent at the waist, hands on his knees, panting, but straightened back up in time to join his two teammates in a round of self-congratulatory pats on the back. Pietro offered Peter his hand, pulling the teen back to his feet.

“Not bad for a normie and a couple of senior citizens, right?” Bucky said, shooting me a smug look.

“Yeah, yeah. Lucky break,” I responded, but I was smiling too.

“Alright,” Steve collected the ball and jogged over to the storage unit off to one side of the court, dropping it in before turning back to everyone else. “Who’s ready for lunch? Let’s head up.”

As the group came together and started to move toward the exit, I straightened up. “Oh! Bucky, I’ll top you up now, if that’s okay. Otherwise I’ll forget.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure,” he said, glancing toward Steve. “We’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Go with them,” I told Peter. “Save me a seat.”

Everyone else continued to head out while I went back over to one of the benches that the guys had been sitting on. I put one leg over and sat straddling it, patting the spot in front of me expectantly. Bucky rolled his eyes a little, but obediently came over and mirrored my movement, so we were sitting facing each other.

Red wisps of chaos magic caressed his limbs before securing him tightly, and I reached on and placed a hand on his forehead. Closing my eyes, I cast my magical senses out and examined the spell I had placed on him to restrain the Winter Soldier persona. Once I was sure that it was still holding perfectly well, I touched the linked battery enchantment and filled it with power.

“All done,” I announced. Dismissing the magic binding him, I dropped my hand from Bucky’s forehead, but, before I could stand up, he reached over with his non-metal hand and gently grabbed hold of my forearm. I looked at him, surprised, a questioning look in my eyes. He didn’t say anything at first, simply holding onto my arm, as though he was working up to saying something. “Uh, I mean, you know I’m up for whatever but we should probably be quick,” I joked.

“We haven’t… had much of a chance to talk since everything happened,” Bucky said hesitantly. He looked a little uncomfortable, maybe even anxious.

The temporary good mood the game had put me in evaporated completely and I heaved a sigh. What had I done now? I braced myself for the worst. Bucky… I didn’t even know what he was going to confront me about yet, but out of everyone I’d upset over the last few days, this one was definitely going to hurt. He was the first person I’d really managed to get onto my side; who’d believed in me. What had I done to upset him? My chest felt tight. “Sorry,” I said quietly. “Whatever it is, just tell me. I’ll do better.”

His brow furrowed slightly and he shook his head. “Huh? No. I mean, I wanted to just… let you know I know how it feels.”

“…How what feels?”

“Before you and Steve found me,” he said, looking at me seriously with his steely, grey-blue eyes. “There were a few times when I thought it might be better for everyone if I just… ended it. I knew there was a chance I’d become the Winter Soldier again. I was a danger to myself and everyone around me.”

“Oh,” I said. This wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all. I felt some of the tension leave my chest.

“I came pretty close, one night. The only thing that stopped me was… Steve. I thought about him finding out and it made me feel sick. I couldn’t do it.” Bucky shook his head, frowning, and gave my arm a little bit of a squeeze. “I’m not great at this sort of thing. I just… I wanted to let you know that I get it. If that helps.”

I reached up and put my free hand over his, a little bit of a lump in my throat, giving him a squeeze in return. “I don’t know if it helps, but I appreciate it anyway,” I said. We stayed like that for a few moments—in a slightly awkward, but also slightly comforting, silence—before I flicked my head in the direction everyone else had gone. “Come on. We should catch up to everyone else. Unless…?” I bit my lip and eyed him suggestively.

Bucky gave a long-suffering sigh, a small smile curving his lips. “Not today, Wanda.” He let go of my arm and stood up, starting off toward the exit.

I blinked. “Hang on, what does ‘not today’ mean?” I called after him, hurrying to my feet. “Bucky? What do you mean ‘not today’?”