Atlas | Avatar!OC x Bucky Barnes

4 - First Tests

Sunday, May 10th, 11:35 pm

A new day almost came to an end as Atlas finished up her homework in Peter's apartment. The two friends had nearly every class together, allowing them to work on most of their homework together.

"Are you sure you're going to take the AP exams?" Peter asked his friend.

Atlas gave him a questioning look. "Parker, I've been registered for the whole year. I'm taking all six of them," she confidently said.

"Okay..." the boy said sheepishly. "But given your record with tests-"

"My nearly perfect record of tests?" Peter stayed quiet. She made a good point.

"I know but this isn't something you can just cram for," he said.

"Peter. Trust me. I'm ready for all of them. Believe it or not, I've been studying for all of these for the last few weeks."

Atlas had been studying for six AP exams for the last few months, and Columbia was depending on her to do well in order for her to ensure her full-ride scholarship, as the university required at least seven AP credits in order to grant full-rides, and Atlas only had one at the moment. She was even thinking of taking an extra exam just in case, but it was too late now, her first AP exam was tomorrow on Monday. Atlas sat on Peter's bed while he lay down on the floor, they were both quizzing each other on things they needed to know for the AP Physics exam they would be taking together on Monday. They were both pretty confident in their abilities, so they just went back and forth asking each other the most random physics questions.

"Oh, shit. It's kinda late, I should probably head out," Atlas said as she looked at the time on her phone. She knew Tony preferred if Atlas were back at a reasonable hour, but he never said she had a full-on curfew. She was an adult, after all. The other night, Tony seemed a little frustrated that Atlas had picked up an extra late shift at the restaurant to make up for the Starbucks job she had just quit, so she made an effort to come back to the tower a little earlier whenever she could. On most nights, she didn't have the will to deal with Tony for absolutely no reason and figured it would just make life easier for both parties by coming back to the tower before midnight. Atlas gathered her books and stuffed them into her bag, not paying attention to the collapsed glider that had fallen out of the side pocket.

"What's this?" Peter asked, picking up the metal stick from the floor. Atlas tried to grab it from him, but his grip strength was abnormally strong, and Atlas knew that.

"It's nothing," Atlas panicked.

"Well, it's clearly something. Is it important?" Peter mocked her, as Atlas tried to reach for the glider but Peter was too fast and kept dodging her every move.

"...No," Atlas said hesitantly. She took a step back as she waited for Peter to get over his curiosity. Peter flipped over the stick and observed the detail of the intricate engravings that were supposed to cover the whole staff when extended to its full length.

As Peter continued to turn the staff around to look at the designs, he found a small, intentionally hidden button. "What's this?" he asked as he pressed the button lightly.

"No, Peter don't-" Atlas was too late. The glider was extended into a full-size black metal bo staff. Atlas rolled her eyes as she knew she had some explaining to do.

"Nothing, huh?" Peter asked sarcastically. Atlas stayed quiet as she had nothing to say. Peter looked back down at the staff, now observing the edges where the large pieces of canvas were supposed to come out. He shook his head, "This isn't just a bo staff," he said confidently.

The amount of trust between the two friends was strongly established. Peter knew everything about Atlas, and Atlas, Peter, except for a few secrets that the two kept from absolutely everyone. Atlas knew Peter had a few secrets of his own, and now that she thought about it, she trusted him enough to keep one more thing from the world. The girl gestured as she held out her hand, telling Peter to give back the staff. He handed it back to her, knowing that Atlas was about to explain everything just by the look on her face. Atlas climbed through the open window onto the small balcony and held out the glider. She took a deep breath as she prepared for what she was about to do. Atlas collected herself as she gave a glider a hard shake and the canvas extended into the full glider. She didn't look back or hesitate as she jumped off the balcony.