Growing Up

15 Years Old

Peter was entirely unsurprised to find his dad working in the lab on yet another Iron Man suit. Instead of turning around and leaving him to his work though, Peter walked over and placed a permission slip on the table in front of him. Frowning, Tony pulled looked away from his suit and down at the paper. He hardly read it before reaching for a pen and quickly signing it.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked, handing the permission slip back to Peter.

Shoving the permission slip into his backpack, Peter answered, "The compound."

Tony frowned, wondering which compound.

"The Avengers' compound," Peter grumbled and Tony smirked, thinking about how the team was sure to be there.

"Wow, I'm sure you'll love it," Tony teased. Peter rolled his eyes and dropped his backpack by his desk.

"Please tell everyone to just act like they don't know me," Peter said, "I really don't need Flash bugging me about this."

"I'll see what I can do," Tony said, turning back to his suit. "No promises, though."

"Never can promise anything when Uncle Clint and Uncle Sam are involved," Peter muttered, pulling up his own project on a nearby computer.

* * * * *

Happy dropped Peter off at school exactly at 7am when he was supposed to show up. Thankfully, Peter had talked his dad out of sending Natasha with him on field trips once he got to high school, so she would not be accompanying him on a trip to the compound. Even if his classmates didn't recognise her immediately, they would once they arrived at the compound. At the very least, the team would say something entirely not so subtle about her being there. Fortunately, that would not be a problem today.

"How much do you want to bet Flash embarrasses himself?" Ned asked as Peter joined him by the bus.

Peter shrugged, glancing over at Flash who was talking loudly about how he was going to work for the Avengers over the summer.

"Do any of us doubt that he will?" Peter asked. Ned and MJ both shook their heads. "Besides, I'm more worried about who will embarrass me first."

MJ smirked. "Good luck."

Before Peter could reply about how absolutely useless her advice was, their teacher was calling them to load the bus and they all scrambled inside. Thanks to the hollow echo in the bus, the excited chatter seemed louder than ever and Peter groaned. Even if the drive was only an hour, it was going to feel like forever.

When they finally arrived at the compound, Peter, MJ, and Ned stayed near the back of the group. Peter didn't want to be recognised, but he also didn't want to follow the group around alone, to the other two agreed to walk with him ("As long as you give us a tour this weekend." "Ned, you've been here before."). Unfortunately, their tour guide was none other than Steve Rogers.

"We'll start on the ground floor and make our way up," Steve told the class. More whispers erupted around them, but Steve was leading them off before anyone could actually raise their hand and ask a question.

The ground floor consisted mainly of offices where various agents (some SHIELD and others CIA) worked during the day. The second floor was where the training rooms were at and while Peter didn't expect Steve to let them stop, they ended up watching Natasha beat Clint.

"This is Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton," Steve said, drawing their attention to the group.

Upon seeing the group, Natasha's eyes immediately sought out Peter. She subtly smiled at him and he smiled back, but Clint noticed.