Breaking Into the Avengers

by SherlockReid

When someone breaks into Avengers' Tower, anything could happen. But no one expects them to fit in as well as they do. But what will happen next? *I know that's a rubbish summary and title, but the story's good, honest*

After the attack by Ultron it seemed that all the robot wielding 'villains' had surfaced. The Avengers were all out fighting their fourth attack this week, well all but one. Pietro was still recovering at Avengers' tower, his high metabolism allowed him to heal quickly, but he still wasn't one hundred percent. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Heyy Jarvis, could you let me in?" Tony Stark's voice called out, "I forgot my key."

Jarvis had been partially restored, since the original became Vision. He had voice presence and people detection, but no visuals.

"Sure thing Mr. Stark."

And so he entered, grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and headed over to the computer.

"Avengers Initiative."

The files loaded instantly, what else would you expect from the 'great' Tony Stark.

And he read them quickly, flicking through them at a rate of a page a second. Unfortunately for him he didn't hear the door open.

"Well that was tough but another job well done," Steve congratulated.

"That's four this week," Clint moaned.

"And I'm gonna be stuck all evening with Pietro complaining that he was not allowed to come," Wanda added.

"Welcome back," Jarvis greeted them, "May I ask why Mr. Stark returned so early and started reading my Avengers Initiative files?"

"Erm, I didn't Jarvis," Tony replied.

"Play sound file," Jarvis responded, playing the clip he'd recorded.

"Well that's definitely your voice," Natasha contributed.

"But it's definitely not me," Tony clarified.

"Erm Stark..." Pietro called from the room next door, "Is there meant to be a non-avenger eating sandwiches in here?"

"No."

The others heard faint fighting noises as they headed through. But none expected a young woman to be sat on Pietro's chest when they entered saying "What you didn't see that coming?" in a perfect recreation of the male Maximoff's voice.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"Whoever I feel like being," she smiled, getting off of her victim and helping him up, "Sorry." She was using her own voice now, and she was very obviously British.

"Jarvis, scan this woman," Tony requested.

"Scan complete," Jarvis responded a minute after the request, "Alice Davies. 23. Female."

"Obviously she's female..."

"Very high IQ. Perfect mimicry. And an eidetic memory," Jarvis continued, "British, but you knew that. Has been arrested several times, but was never charged due to people in high places calling in."

"You seem surprised by that Mr. Stark," Alice smiled, "It's wonderful to be provided one phone call in the police station," then she continued in the voice of the mayor of London, "And friends in very high places."

"Right, Pietro, you take her and keep her occupied for a while whilst we discuss what to do with her," Tony dictated, and upon seeing Pietro's expression he added, "Maybe don't occupy her time like that."

"Definitely don't occupy her time like that," Wanda added, reading his mind. Which caused him to blush a little, before scooping up Alice and running off.

"So," Pietro started, setting her down on his bed, "You can do any voice?"

"Any voice I've heard before, but I can say anything in it. It's a talent that comes in handy for karaoke," Alice smiled.

"What's karaoke?"

"You don't know! It's when you go out and you pick a song and they put the words on a screen and you sing along. You've really never heard of one before?"

"Well since you read my file, you'll know we didn't have much of a childhood."

"Oh, yeah, sorry..."

"Don't worry, you weren't to remember."

"But I do remember. Eidetic memory, yeah. I just didn't think about it."

"Pietro," Wanda spoke in his mind, "We're ready for you now. Are you okay? I felt excitement, and then sadness."

"I'm fine," he 'thought' back.

"We've gotta go back," Pietro told Alice.

"Wait, don't carry me bridal style. I feel like I'm a damsel in distress. And since I kicked your ass down there, I think we both know I'm not."

"Well the only alternative is a piggy back ride."

"That's much better," she smiled, jumping on.

"Woah," Wanda commented, "I never get carried like that."

"You never asked, and it's not as though I could carry her bridal style after, as she so elegantly phrased it, she kicked my ass."

"Definitely not digging that damsel in distress vibe," Alice laughed.

"Right, well," Tony started, "After much deliberation we've decided we will let you trial as an avenger. And if you can cut it, we'll let you stay."

Alice replied the best way she knew, and in the style of Ed Miliband she said, "Thank you. I won't let you down."

"I know that one. Ed Miliband, yeah," Pietro responded.

"Yeah, previous leader of the labour party," Alice answered.

"How do you know British politics?" Natasha enquired.

"Well what do you think I do when you go out fighting robots, without me?" he replied defensively.

"Calm Pietro," Wanda spoke.

"No. I'm fed up of being here. I have no one to talk to because I'm on my own when you all go out, as it seems I am not good enough to fight with you. I've even resorted to paying attention to British politics. I know I'm not fully recovered, but you've had four missions this week and I'd have been happy with one." And with that as a parting comment he rushed out of the room.

"Oops," Alice commented, "I guess he's not happy. But I have to say I'd have done the same. So can I have more information on my trial please?"

"That's what you're worried about? Not your angry boyfriend?" Tony snarked.

"Well unlike you I do think about others, but I thought I'd enquire about that whilst we were discussing it. And a second point of dissimilarity, I don't have a desire to sleep with every guy I meet. He's not my boyfriend," Alice fumed.

She was secretly glad Tony couldn't read her thoughts to see that given the chance she would sleep with that quick avenger. It was whilst having that thought she remembered Wanda. Crap.

"Sorry Wanda," Alice apologised.

"Don't worry," Wanda smiled back.

"So details?" Alice asked again.

"Right Pietro will be your handler to distract him from not going on missions. You need to think of an avenger name. We'll set up a practice mission for you in a month to check your progress," Steve informed her, "Good luck."

"Thank you Mr. Rogers," Alice smiled, "Now shall I go check on him? Since after all of his lecturing me about priorities I notice Mr. Stark hasn't made a move to check on our speedy friend." And with that she walked out and headed to Pietro's room.

"Pietro," she called from outside his door, "Will you let me in? I've got good news."

"Can I go on missions?"

"No but this is better."

He opened the door a crack.

"You're gonna be my handler," she smiled, "So you get to train me to be an avenger."

"Well I suppose it's better than sitting around here alone all day," he sighed. Then he closed the door and left her stood outside.

"Oh, that didn't go as well as hoped," she spoke to herself. Then to Jarvis, "Sorry for pranking you earlier. Could you please tell me if Mr. Stark has allocated me a room yet?"

"You've been allocated room thirteen on floor seven. And do not worry, but why Mr. Stark?"

"Well," she said starting in Steve's voice, setting off to her room on the floor above, "I could have chosen any avenger," she'd swapped to Natasha in for that part and changed to Wanda for the next segment, "But Mr. Stark seemed the most likely avenger to forget his key."

It was only once she reached her room that she registered it was directly above Pietro's.

"Jarvis, did Mr. Stark pick this room for me?"

"Yes, he said it was closest to your boyfriends room."

"I will kill him!" she shouted. Loud enough for the next couple of floors to hear. Within seconds Pietro was by her side.

"Right key starting facts to being an avenger," Pietro informed her, "One, the soundproofing is one way. It keeps sounds from getting out of the rooms, but it doesn't stop sounds getting in. So the floors above and below heard that. Two, try to avoid killing other avengers, they don't take it well."

This exchange set Alice laughing, "I like how the noise level was the first point," she laughed.

"Yeah," he mumbled, "Maybe pay more attention to point two. On a side note, who are you planning to kill?"

"Stark."

"Ah, I can sympathise with that. But I'm sure you'll warm to him."

"Maybe. Oh I forgot to tell you. I only have one month of training before my trial mission."

"We'll start training tomorrow then," he smiled dashing off.

"That'll take some getting used to," she muttered to herself. Upon entering the room and shutting the door she turned to take the room in. It was then she yelled again. As well as picking her room it seemed that Tony had redecorated it when he'd moved her things in. She'd asked him to have them sent over from her flat. She went to the box with her climbing rig in, and set it up off of her balcony.

She carefully abseiled one floor down and lightly tapped on the glass window of the door, a short Morse code tapping of Pietro's name.

To her surprise she got a Morse message tapped back. Who is it?

She tapped out Alice, and Pietro opened the door. Dressed in just sleep shorts, he made Alice feel quite overdressed.

"We need to go to my room and have a discussion on what to do about Stark," she demanded.

He took them up in seconds.

"Wow, I can't see your issue," he laughed, observing the many pictures of him Tony had placed in there.

"Just wait until he does it to your room, with pictures of me. And he also keeps referring to you as my boyfriend, so you'll probably get that to," Alice informed him.

He sped around the room and collected the pictures, packing them into a box near her bedside table, the one that the climbing gear had come out of.

"Right we need a plan," Alice declared, "Which avenger scares him the most?"

"I think Natasha scares everyone the most," Pietro confessed.

"I agree, and which room is his?"

"Floor five, room one."

"Okay, here's the plan," she said telling Pietro what she'd thought of.

"So we'll need to go downstairs and wait for him to go to bed," Alice stated.

"Or we could wait here for him to go to bed?"

"And how will we know when he's gone to bed? No we need to go downstairs. It'll also let Stark know we're not 'occupying each other's time'."

It was then she remembered his current attire.

"Ooh. Clothes."

She rifled through her box of clothes and pulled out a pink t-shirt and some blue beach shorts.

"It's the only stuff I've got your size," she confessed.

"How do you know it is my size?" he replied pulling the clothes on.

"Eidetic memory."

"Oh yeah," Pietro agreed, whilst thinking he didn't actually know what that meant.

"I remember everything I read," Alice clarified, "I also remember almost everything I hear for a couple of months, but that doesn't class as eidetic memory."

"I see," he smiled wondering just how she knew what he was thinking.

They headed down stairs, walking at normal speed, and waited for Tony to go to bed.

It seemed that the other avengers had chosen tonight for a movie night.

"Oh, you didn't invite us," Alice joke moaned when she entered with Pietro.

"I thought you'd be occupying your time with your boyfriend over there," Tony answered.

Alice headed over to the sofa and sat on him, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Then why can I feel him glaring at me due to your seating choice. And this isn't very comfortable."

"Well that's not my problem," Alice smiled, "I mean where else should I sit if you choose to occupy half a sofa to yourself?"

"Yeah, move over Stark," Pietro requested now that he'd walked over to the sofa.

Alice got up allowing Tony to move his feet, and she and Pietro squished into the space that was now between him and Wanda. The film was Hot Fuzz one of Alice's favourites. It was an hour later, once the film had finished, that everyone finally went to bed. Alice and Pietro did too, planning to meet outside her room in five minutes.

"Right," Alice said once Pietro arrived, "You're sure of the plan?"

"Yes, totally."

They sped down to Tony's room, and Alice snuck in. Pietro was waiting outside for a quick escape.

"Tony," Alice whispered into his ear, in the voice of Natasha, "Tony, just remember. I can kill you whilst you're sleeping and no one will know. Remember that, and always watch your back."

Then she snuck out and Pietro ran them back to his room.

"So, what exactly did you tell him?" Pietro asked.

She informed him in Natasha's voice exactly what she had said. To which he started laughing, and Alice started laughing with him. The only issue was, the events of today had tired Alice out and she fell asleep on the spot on Pierto's floor, leant against his bed.

Pietro didn't notice this however, as he'd already fallen asleep on his bed.

The next morning Alice awoke laid on the bed, which surprised her, she knew she'd not fallen asleep on there. It was during her thinking that Pietro walked out of his bathroom wrapped in a towel. He started searching for clothes in the wardrobe when she decided to speak.

"I guess I've got you to thank for my present location."

"I guess so. Do you always talk so fancy?"

"A lot of the time. May I borrow the use of your bathroom, and some clothes?"

"Erm sure fine," Pietro replied. Continuing his clothes search, and passing her a towel when she passed him.

Fifteen minutes later she exited the bathroom wrapped in the towel with her underwear underneath. Her bright, blonde hair was still quite damp and hung down her back in several small twists, and her straight fringe was sticking to her forehead. Pietro was marveling at how she still looked so pretty with her hair like that. Then he felt Wanda in his mind saying 'get a room'. 'I'm in my room' he thought back, with a laugh.

"So, clothes?" Alice asked.

"Oh yeah, most of my clothes are the same, but I found something different to what I'm wearing. They're still noticeably mine though," Pietro answered.

"They'll be fine, it'll finally give Stark a reason behind his thoughts," Alice laughed taking the clothes and dropping the towel to dress.

"Woah, you are going to do that here?" Pietro stammered, "My sister's going to kill me."

"Oh, I never considered that, I'll apologise later," Alice confessed pulling the shirt over her head, "Do you have a hair dryer?"

"No, my hair dries when I run."

"Well we better get going then."

They took seventeen laps of the running field to dry Alice's hair.

"Right, so that's my exercise for the morning," Pietro joked, "Now for yours."

"I have just completed five minutes of strength endurance, it's not easy to hold on to your shoulders."

"Fair point, do you want to go and get breakfast?"

"Sounds good."

"Care for some more strength testing then?" Pietro laughed, crouching so that she could climb up.

"Anything to help me become an avenger," she smiled climbing up.

Pietro ran to the kitchen, when the pair bumped into Wanda.

"Oh, er, hi," Alice stammered, "I wanted to apologise for earlier. I forgot about your twin mind conectiony thing."

"I thought it may have been you," Wanda smiled back, then thought to Pietro 'she's better than the last one you picked'.

"Hey, that's not nice to say, and it's not really fair to communicate like that when Alice can't join," Pietro responded, pouring cereal.

"Sorry Alice," Wanda said, "I'll only do it if I think it's something I think he'd prefer I didn't say aloud, which come to think of it, that was. Or should I tell her about this morning?"

"No!" Pietro shouted running over crashing her almost into the floor, with one hand over her mouth and one behind her head to stop it hitting the floor.

"Ah, I'm pretty sure I can guess," Alice smirked, "But we weren't, what was Tony's expression, oh yeah," then she spoke in Tony's voice, "occupying each other's time."

"You must be fab at parties," Tony announced entering the room, then upon noticing Alice's attire he flashed a look between her and Pietro, "But guessing from your attire you probably did at some point last night."

"Actually no, we were planning last night, you know so I can become an avenger," Alice informed him.

Wanda flashed her a knowing glance as she knew she was lying but then looked to Pietro for answers, who thought to her last night's events. Fortunately Natasha and Clint walked in then.

"Morning," they greeted.

"Morning," Alice, Pietro and Wanda replied, Tony had disappeared.

Once Alice noticed his disappearance she looked to Pietro and laughed.

"It seems to have worked," she commented, then continued to Natasha, "Sorry I think he may react to you like that for a while. But he really did deserve it."

"What did you do?" Clint asked.

"Well, last night after the movie had finished Tony went to bed, as you'd expect. A little later I snuck in and said this," she then continued in Natasha's voice, "Tony, just remember. I can kill you whilst you're sleeping and no one will know. Remember that, and always watch your back," she then finished the story in her voice, "Then I snuck out and we ran back upstairs, that's also why I ended up in Pietro's room."

Clint just burst out laughing, "I wondered how your power was going to help, but I think you already did. That's hilarious. But how did you know to use Nat?"

"I said I was pretty sure that everyone is scared of Natasha," Pietro contributed, then to Alice, "Should we head to the gym to start your official training?"

"Yes, let's," she replied grabbing his shoulders before he ran off.

"Shall we start with some more strength endurance?" Pietro asked.

"I suppose so," Alice replied.

"Right koala grip that punch bag then. Let's see how long you can hold on for."

So she did, fifteen minutes later Steve walked in, he always came for a work out in the morning, "Prepares you for the day," he insists.

"Are you okay there Alice?" he asked.

"Strength endurance test. Fifteen minutes so far," she called to him.

"Throwing you in at the deep end," he replied choosing the treadmill next to Pietro's as his starting point.

An hour later Steve left, and Alice was still going strong.

"Okay," Pietro called, "I think we can be pretty sure that you're good at that."

"So what next?" Alice asked heading over.

"Well is that arm strength or leg strength?"

"Both," Alice answered.

"Right. Well we will need to test each one separately and see where to go from there," Pietro decided.

So he set her up on a ceiling bar, arms bent to right angles at the elbows, and body flat.

After half an hour of that he made her turn over so she had her knees bent over the bar, body hung upside down. Once she'd done that for half an hour he helped her down.

"So how did you build up all that strength?" Pietro enquired.

"I climb a lot," she replied, "Actually I think I could probably climb Avengers' tower. Shall we try?"

Which is how ten minutes later Pietro found himself belaying whilst Alice climbed the side of the glass building.

Meanwhile, Steve had been telling those in the lounge about Alice's koala grip.

"I mean she held if for over an hour fifteen!" he exclaimed, "I can only do it for an hour thirty!"

"Oh oh," Wanda mumbled.

"What's Pietro doing?"

"Well he's sending excitement, but evil plan excitement, not I've just seen a puppy excitement."

They'd all just about gotten used to Pietro's puppy excitement

"Oh it's strong concentration now," Wanda observed, "Do any of you know the meaning of vee, knee, 1, 2, 3?"

"In a roundabout way," Clint replied, noticing the two ropes down the window, "It means look out of that window."

After five minutes of all staring at the window Wanda, Clint and Steve could see Alice climbing the building, she noticed them staring, waved, then continued her climb. Unfortunately Avengers' tower was across from the city's news tower, so many photographs were taken of her ascent. She'd be front page news tomorrow. Once she'd reached her balcony she climbed in then commed Pietro to untie the rope from the tree, and to tie the belay clip on so she could pull the ropes up into her room.

Steve turned on the television news channel and as expected the lead story was "Who's that girl?" with a video of Alice.

"Urm Stark," Steve called, "You seen this?"

"Yeah, she's got style," Tony called back.

"But what are we going to tell them?" Clint asked.

"Erm," Tony replied, "I don't know. We'll think of something."

"Oh," Tony pondered, then excitedly, "We should have a party!"

"What?" Clint responded.

"A party. To welcome Alice, I think it is highly likely she will become an avenger, and it will distract the news," Tony explained.

"Sounds fun," Pietro added, "I've not had a party here."

"Me neither," Wanda contributed.

"Well then. Party it is. Tomorrow night," Tony announced.

"I'll tell Thor," Clint said, as they all dispersed.

"So," Alice started, later on as she was sparring with Pietro that afternoon, "Party. Do you have anything nice for it?" She blocked a few more attacks and flipped him, to be sat on his chest like the day before.

"No," Pietro confessed, "Can I go in these?" As he spoke he flipped for her to be on the floor and sat on her.

"Not at all," she smiled, as she sat up and tipped him back off of her, then bounced up, "I guess we've gotta take some time out of training tomorrow to go shopping."

"Well if I really need something," he sighed, rolling at her feet. She jumped but managed to hit his fingers on landing.

"Ow," he cried.

"Oh oh oh, I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to. I'm sorry, honest," Alice babbled, grabbing his hand, "Let me see," she started twisting it at his wrist, "Well nothing is broken, just a little bruised. It'll be fine."

"It's actually not hurting now," Pietro told her.

"Well it shouldn't have stopped quickly. Let's get you to the medical room," Alice decided.

"No need," Pietro smiled, "I've got a high metabolism, it increases healing. Remember."

"Oh yeah."

"Right, so back to training," Pietro smiled.

They practiced more hand to hand combat before calling it a day.

"I'm not very good with weapons so you may have to ask the others to train you in those areas, or you can just stick with hand to hand?" Pietro explained.

"I've always wanted katanas," Alice enthused, "You know, those Japanese swords," she continued seeing the look of confusion on his face.

"Maybe ask Stark for that one," Pietro replied, knowing that he'd never seen another avenger use those.

"I'll ask this evening," Alice decided, "I'm going for a shower now. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"You will," he answered, running out himself.

A while later and Pietro and Wanda were conversing.

"There's no way she won't become an avenger," Pietro insisted.

"How are you so certain?" Wanda enquired.

"She's got such strength," Pietro started, "And she's got brilliant hand to hand combat," he continued singing Alice's praise for at least fifteen more minutes before Wanda politely asked him to shut up.

"Right, I get that you fancy her but stop," was her choice of polite request, but she then decided to inform him about the wondrous personality of Vision, and he could see how she had felt.

"Hey, I do not fancy her!" was Pietro's first comment once he got a chance, "And if I fancy her, you fancy Vision."

Wanda chose to leave it there and changed the topic to the party.

"Have you got anything nice for the party?" she asked.

"No, but Alice offered to take me shopping, well I think she's taking me," Pietro answered, "You can come too if you'd like?"

"I'll pass," Wanda replied, "But thanks, and if you see anything you think I may like, I'm a size ten," she smiled.

"We'll get you a suit first'" Alice suggested, "Because that won't take long."

She was right, and half an hour later they left the shop with a suit and red tie, "Well Wanda'll be wearing red I guess, so it'll match," Alice had said, Pietro didn't tell her that Wanda's not got a dress yet.

Three shops later and Alice was still trying to find a nice dress.

"What about this one?" Pietro asked, holding up a dark blue knee length dress with black lace.

"Ooh, that is nice," Allice excitedly rushed over, "But I don't have £60," she sighed.

"I've got a Stark card," Pietro smiled, "Go and try it on."

Whilst Alice tried the dress on Pietro kept looking for Wanda. He eventually found a long red dress, with a darker red ribbon belt.

Pietro called Wanda, Tony had given them phones.

"Я нашёл платье для тебя" he informed her. (I've found you a dress.)

"Замечательно, тогда покупай её," she replied. (Wonderful, buy it then.)

Before he could agree and hand up Alice walked out.

"Woah," Pietro mumbled.

"What's up?" Wanda asked.

"Oh, doesn't matter. I'll get you the dress," he rushed.

"It's a shame I can't read your mind from here," Wanda joked, "Bye."

"What do you think?" Alice asked.

"You look... really nice," Pietro stumbled out.

"Just nice?" Alice was a little sad.

"Well, really pretty" he tried.

"I was joking, nice is good enough," Alice smiled, heading back to change out of the dress.

"That's so sweet," the cashier gushed, "Buying dresses for your girlfriend. You do know these are different sizes."

"They're not for my girlfriend. One is my sister's and one's my friends," Pietro tried to explain, but the cashier wasn't listening.

"He could never get a girlfriend," Alice joked.

"That's harsh," Pietro replied with joke offence.

Once they'd bought the dresses they headed back, walking because Alice insisted running would crease the clothes, even more than folding them into bags had.

They trained all afternoon, Tony had easily got Alice some katanas, and it turned out that Natasha was trained to use them. So training for an hour a day with Natasha was scheduled into their schedules.

Two hours before the party and Pietro, Wanda and Alice were in the lounge chatting. However Pietro and Wanda had chosen to have a mini conversation in Russian

"Entschuldigung sie mich," Alice interrupted, "Ich spreche kein russisch."

"Извините, я не говорю по-немецки" Petro replied.

"Entschuldigung sie mich," Alice repeated, "Ich spreche kein russisch."

"Извините, я не говорю по-немецки" Pietro said again.

Wanda and a few other avengers stopped to observe them, as they carried on like this for about ten more minutes, before Alice started laughing.

"What exactly did you say to me?" Alice asked.

"Excuse me, I don't speak German," Pietro answered, "And you?"

"Excuse me, I don't speak Russian," Alice laughed, then she noticed the time, "Crap. I need to get ready for the party. See you later."

An hour later and she had showered, dried her hair and was styling it when she heard a knock on her door.

"Who is it?"

"Pietro."

She looked at what she was wearing, just her underwear, so she pulled Pietro's shirt on and opened the door.

"What is it?" she asked, letting him into the room.

"I don't know how to tie this," he confessed, showing her the tie, he was already dressed in his suit, looking sharp.

"Don't worry, I can do it," Alice smiled, "I think Tony gets Pepper to do his," As she spoke she tied the tie around her neck, loosened it and put it on him, then tightened it, "There you go."

She then went back to doing her hair. She decided that a simple bun would suffice, it'd look quite sophisticated. When she had finished she realised she hadn't heard the door close.

She turned slowly to see Pietro, he'd never looked so peaceful, but she knew his mind was buzzing away.

"What you thinking 'bout?"

"Do you really think I couldn't get a girlfriend?"

"No! Of course not, I was just joking with that cashier. For all I know you could have a girlfriend. I didn't think you'd take it to heart, sorry."

She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and they stood like that for a moment, until Tony called, "Ten minutes until the party."

"Crap. I've not got this dress on," Alive cursed, "Go, go. Help Wanda or something," Alice spoke pushing Pietro out of her room.

"This was not a problem yesterday," he called through the door.

Alice was a quick dresser, and opened the door just as he finished, "I wasn't in my own room yesterday. I couldn't kick you out," she linked her arm with his and they headed down to the party.

After an hour of party, Alice escaped. She wasn't too confident in crowds, and tended to panic. She was up on the roof when Clint found her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, parties aren't my kind of thing," she confessed.

"Ah, I have to say I've also never been one for parties, and dancing and the like," Clint agreed.

"Oh, I love dancing, I just don't enjoy crowds," Alice laughed.

"I've got an idea," Clint smiled, "Have you ever seen..."

Ten minutes later the two were downstairs, and Clint had just spoke to the DJ (Jarvis) as Alice cleared the floor.

As the first notes trickled out all eyes were on them, they didn't care. Once the music started they were in the zone. Clint and Alice happened to be re-enacting the dance from Grease, the hand jive, only Clint wasn't going to swap Alice out, like Danny did with Sandy and Cha Cha. By the time they'd finished they were out of breath, and were awarded with a round of applause. Alice was pretty sure she'd seen some camera flashes and wondered if she'd be front page news again tomorrow.

After that there was much more dancing, and Alice was thoroughly exhausted and ready to drop when she felt a rush of air behind her.

"Pietro," she mumbled.

"Yeah," he replied, "C'mon you're going to bed," he decided, scooping her up and rushing her to her room.

"Alice," Pietro spoke, though she was half asleep, "Alice, we need to get you out of that dress."

"Do it then," she mumbled back.

Rather uncomfortably Peitro managed to get Alice out of the dress, and pulled his shirt from earlier over her head, wrestling her arms in. Then he tucked the almost sleeping Alice into bed and quietly left to rejoin the party. But it didn't feel like a party without Alice, as Wanda had left earlier on with Vision. He eventually found Clint.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Mmh," Clint mumbled back, "Where did Alice go?"

"I took her to bed," Pietro replied.

"Ooh get in there," Clint laughed. Only then did Pietro realise the error of his wording.

"I'll be doing the same with you in a minute" Pietro decided, "Especially if you keep leaning on me."

"Heyy I've got a wife," Clint slurred. Pietro just scooped him up and took him upstairs. He knew Clint would have a t-shirt under his shirt so stripped him to that and his underwear and settled him in bed. Pietro actually ended up taking all the remaining avengers to bed, and eventually ended up collapsing to sleep on floor seven outside room thirteen.

When Alice woke up she remembered everything, she was secretly glad to have inherited her mother's ability to wake up early and not have a hangover. So she unfortunately remembered getting Pietro to undress her.

She showered and got dressed, knowing that Pietro had put the t-shirt on her, she'd have to thank him for that.

She headed out only to trip over the sleeping form outside her door. After letting out a few choice curses, she turned to see what she'd fallen over. Pietro. She had surprisingly managed to not wake him. So she maneuvered him onto her bed and left him to sleep. Then went to cook breakfast.

She cooked pancakes, and as the others awoke and smelled them cooking she ended up making more Eventually she had made all of the avengers breakfast.

"We've got to keep you around," Clint smiled, "None of the others cook us pancakes for breakfast."

"I made pancakes for breakfast once," Natasha defended.

"You burnt pancakes for breakfast once," Steve laughed, "That's why you've only ever done it once."

"Well I guess I'll just have to work hard to get to stay," Alice decided.

"You're improving with the katanas," Natasha commented, "And you've only stabbed yourself once," which set Pietro laughing.

"You stabbed yourself," he laughed, "How did you stab yourself?"

"It was an accident. I dropped it on my foot," Alice replied, annoyed at his laughter, "Would you like me to purposely stab you?"

"Woah," Clint gasped with fake shock, "Looks like we've got a badass over here."

She shot him a stern look, "Just remembered who cooked you all breakfast," she smiled before leaving.

She got as far as the training room before Pietro rushed up to her.

"Thought I'd see you," she sighed.

"So you did see this coming?" Pietro laughed.

"You're still using that?" Alice asked starting her treadmill.

"Yes, you didn't see that coming?" Pietro joked.

Alice just stepped off the treadmill, headed over to his training mat and hit him on the back of the head.

"You didn't see that coming?" she quipped in Pietro's voice as he span to face her.

They spared for about thirty minutes before it was decided that Alice had won, and she went back to her treadmill.

"How fast can you go?" Steve enquired upon entry to the room.

"Keeping steady at 20 miles per hour. But sprinting I can do 40," Alice smiled, not breaking her run.

"Pretty quick," Steve replied, "I'm anything between 36 and 75 miles per hour."

"Really you want to race him, but you won't race me?" Pietro took joke offense.

"Well there's no way I'm going to beat you, with Steve there's a chance."

"She's got a point there," Steve added.

"Yeah," Alice replied sticking her tongue out at Pietro, then continuing in Steve's voice, "I've got a point there."

They sorted it there and then. Alice and Steve would each do four laps of the track and Pietro would time. They'd go one at a time and time them so it would be clear to see who had won. They were going to re-meet in two hours at the track.

In those two hours all of the avengers had heard of the race and went to watch. They were sure that Steve would win but wanted to see how close Alice could get.

Steve went first, giving Alice a time of 7,54 to beat. She set off strong, a little faster than her usual 20 miles per hour. And had 100 meters of her 1600 meters to go when the clock hit 7,45. She sprinted that final stretch at full speed.

"Seven minutes and fifty four seconds," Pietro called as Alice laid on the floor breathing heavily.

"You matched his time," Natasha congratulated her.

"You didn't see that coming?" Alice replied in Pietro's voice.

"Why is it always me?" Pietro asked helping Alice up now that her breathing had steadied.

"You've got a usable catchphrase," Alice confessed, "I shall channel my inner Captain America when I run into battle," then in Steve's voice and whilst throwing a fist in the air she shouted, "For America!"

A while later, back inside the tower, Tony spoke, "Alice, you should try to lift Thor's hammer whilst using his voice."

"Why? Do you think I am not worthy to pick it up as myself," Alice pretended to take offence, then laughed, "Actually, I'm probably not worthy."

Thor just dropped the Mjölnir in front of her, "Try then, Lady Alice."

"So Lady Natasha," Alice spoke in Thor's voice, "Do you believe I am worthy of lifting the Mjölnir?"

"Have a try," Natasha smiled, knowing Tony would be wrong whatever the outcome.

Alice threaded her hand through the loop and lifted.

"Well it's not that heavy," she laughed, "I don't see your problem."

Thor just looked shocked, "Lady Alice, you are worthy."

"Oh, so I am," she mumbled, then louder she shouted, "Hey Vision. Catch," she threw the Mjölnir, he caught it and passed it her back.

"The Mjölnir is not a toy," Thor scolded taking it off of her.

"The Mjölnir is not a toy," Alice repeated in a slightly whinier version of Thor's voice.

Tony, Natasha, Clint, Wanda and Pietro burst out laughing. Steve, Vision and Thor just looked confused.

"I don't understand," said Steve.

"It's something children often do when in trouble with their parents. It usually lands them in even more trouble," Natasha explained, in between laughs.

After several weeks of training Alice was ready and it was the day of her trial mission. She was dressed in one of Natasha's spare Black Widow outfits, but without the belt. The others all had comm devices but Alice wasn't allowed one, "Well how can we plot against you if you can hear what were saying?" Steve explained.

Alice was now sneaking up behind Hawkeye, he heard a noise so she threw her voice to the other side of the clearing to distract him, well she threw Natasha's voice, "Clint, we could use some back up here." He turned to her voice and Alice ran and stabbed him in the back, "Sorry," she whispered, then she took his comm.

"Everyone okay?" Steve asked, he got yeses back all round except from Clint, "Hawkeye?" Steve questioned.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," 'Hawkeye' replied, "I heard a noise behind me, and I was focused on that."

"Do you need back up?"

"No, I've got it."

Alice had managed to take out almost all of the avengers. Tony's suit had been an issue but she sorted it. Natasha, Pietro and Wanda remained. She was doing a good job of covering her work. No one 'alive' knew who was 'dead'.

Problems were occurring now though, as she approached Natasha she was heard, so she used the Hawkeye trick and whilst her back was turned, she ran at the Black Widow and hugged her from behind. So Natasha dropped onto the back, onto Alice. Alice had managed to pull one of Natasha's guns out and manoeuvred it to shoot her through the arm. Whilst she was distracted Alice shot her in the chest too.

I suppose I should inform you that Alice's katanas are retractable, and all of the weapons are paint loaded so no one is injured.

Now all she'd got left was the twins. She knew they worked together, and she'd need a cunning plan to defeat them.

"Pietro," 'Hawkeye' called, "I could really use some back up here. She's throwing my arrows back at me from on top of a building."

"On my way," Pietro replied, then to Wanda, "I'll be back soon."

As Pietro ran off Alice stepped out.

"So Wanda, all alone," she smiled.

She ran at the girl, katanas out. Wanda used her telekinesis to take the katanas out of Alice's hands. Alice was going to have to use physical methods to win, unless… Wanda had her eyes closed. "Wanda," 'Pietro' called, "Hawkeye really needs help." Wanda lost concentration. Alice ran. Grabbed the katanas and stabbed then straight into Wanda's chest, "Sorry," she whispered, she liked Wanda.

Just after this Pietro returned, "Hawkeye's gone, it was Alice calling on his comm," he said before noticing Wanda. He knelt beside his 'dead' sister before checking his surroundings. A big mistake. Alice ran to him, and with a katana at his neck, she spoke, in Natasha's voice, "Always watch your back," she whispered, and then she slid the katana across his throat, and he fell 'dead'.

Jarvis registered this and ended the training simulation, showing all of the 'dead' avengers.

"Well done," Pietro congratulated, "That Natasha touch was a surprise."

"I knew you'd get the reference," Alice smiled, remembering their prank on Tony that first night. Tony and Natasha were on talking terms now, and Tony had stopped referring to Pietro as Alice's boyfriend.

The others all congratulated her too.

"So have you got a name yet?" Steve asked.

"Erm, I'm not sure yet," Alice confessed, "I was thinking Copycat, but that sounds similar to copy that. So I decided against it. Maybe Mimic?"

"What about joining me and Sam on the bird theme and going with Mockingjay?" Clint suggested.

"Do you read, or watch modern films? One of the main elements of the hunger games is the mockingjay! The public will think I'm copying it," Alice explained.

"Good point," Tony agreed, "I like Mimic."

"Mimic it is then," Alice decided. She was excited to finally be an avenger.

A week or so later and Alice was in the pool, she'd always loved swimming and now she'd got unlimited access to a pool, she swam every morning for an hour. So Steve knew that she would be there this morning when he headed down.

"Hey Alice," Steve called, "How far have you gone?"

"Erm," Alice pondered, "I've done thirty three lengths, and it's twenty five meters... So eight-two-five meters."

"In thirty minutes, wow you're fast."

"Well now you say it, it's only about half a meter a second... I've done faster."

"Do you want to race?" Steve suggested.

"Go on then," Alice smiled pulling herself out of the pool.

Steve took in how she looked, blonde hair pulled back into a simple braid, fringe pushed back off of her forehead, her swimming costume was a one-piece with shorts. He decided there was no point trying to hide the fact he thought she was beautiful. Unfortunately for him, Alice couldn't see him, she had severe short sightedness and without her contact lenses she couldn't see further than her hand.

"So twelve lengths," Alice prompted, causing Steve to look back to her face, "That would be six hundred meters."

They climbed onto the diving boards and Alice counted them off. When she finished her lengths Steve still had two lengths left, he finished even though he knew he'd lost.

Pietro was watching from the door, he'd seen the whole encounter and for some reason felt a little jealous. He ran away before being noticed. Alice swam for another twenty minutes to finish her hour then got out. However once she had finished showering Steve had gotten out of the pool, Alice found this out when she walked into his chest.

"Oof," she mumbled, "Sorry, I didn't see you there," Alice apologised.

"Don't worry," Steve smiled and he walked around her to the showers.

Alice just carried on heading to the kitchen for breakfast, she had decided not to bother with her contact lenses today as she didn't have training, and she'd not found her glasses yet since moving.

"Morning," she greeted upon entry to the kitchen, speaking to the red haired being she was pretty sure was Natasha and the sandy haired one would be Clint since Steve was much more blonde than that. She identified Tony by his Goatee, Pietro by his silver hair, Wanda by her long brown locks and Vision, well Vision was a pinky, purply colour, which is quite hard to confuse. Thor wasn't there, but she would've identified him by his long blonde hair, and if she didn't know him she'd have pegged him as a female.

They each greeted her back and she grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard, she decided to not bother with a bowl today and ate from the box, after pulling herself up to be sat on the counter.

"Not feeling civilised today Alice," Clint laughed, she was identifying people by voices so she didn't even look up before replying.

"Today's a lazy day."

"Pardon," Clint requested.

Alice looked up and repeated it, "Today's a lazy day," she smiled. She couldn't see that Clint was paying careful attention to her lips to understand her.

Pietro could, "Old Man, why are you concentrating so much on Alice's mouth?" he asked.

"So I know what she's saying," Clint explained, "I can't hear her properly. She doesn't seem to mind."

"I didn't notice," Alice confessed, making a mental note to always try to look at Clint when talking, "So you're hard of hearing then?"

"Yeah, seventy percent deaf," Clint explained, "That's probably why my sight's so good," he laughed.

"Ahh, we'd be a good pair," Alice replied, "I've got really good hearing," she neglected to mention terrible sight; she'd tell them if anyone asked.

"I may pair you up then when we're on missions," Steve announced when he entered the kitchen. Alice noticed the departure of Pietro's silver hair when Steve entered but decided she'd ask him later about it.

"Sounds good," Alice decided, "I'm going to go and catch up some reading since I've got the day off," and she headed out of the kitchen.

She didn't pay much attention to the room when she entered, why should she, it was her own room. She just flopped on the bed and closed her eyes. She didn't realise she'd fallen asleep until a gust of wind and crash awoke her. Followed by a series of curse words.

"Woah," Alice started, "Why are you in my room?" she rubbed her eyes and sat up. A shock of silver hair was staring at her.

"Erm, Alice," Pietro replied, "This is my room. You arrived about an hour ago, I was in the bathroom, I come out and you're there, asleep on my bed. I left you and moved quietly to avoid waking you. You heard me knock the soap bottle into the sink."

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry," Alice babbled, "This is floor six isn't it, not floor seven?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's easy to lose count on all of those stairs," Pietro comforted, "I do it occasionally."

"Yeah, well I'm gonna head up to my room, my own one this time," Alice informed him, "But thank you for your hospitality, it was greatly appreciated."

"You're talking fancy again," Pietro called down corridor at her.

Once in her room she pulled out all of her unpacked boxes, there were four, and tipped them on to her bed. She then spent all afternoon sorting through items, packing away things for the thrift store in one of the now empty boxes, packing other items on shelves. She found more clothes which she sorted into the wardrobe, how many clothes did she have! Halfway through she got hungry and went to get food, the other avengers were also having food so she dished herself a plate up, grabbed some cutlery and sat down. It was only once she'd sat down did she realise she'd grabbed two knives. Sighing as she stood up she swapped one knife for a fork, having first grabbed three more knives, and five spoons before finding a fork. Pietro noticed her trouble.

"Alice are you okay?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah, fine," Alice smiled, returning with the fork, "Why'd you ask?"

"Just wondered."

She finished her meal, cleaned up and went back to sorting. After a bit more sorting her bed was still covered in items, and she hadn't found her glasses. She headed down to the sofa in the living room with one of her oversized hoodies and settled down to sleep. She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, so she didn't notice Clint sat on the other chair in the area, and Clint didn't hear her arrive. It wasn't until he moved to go to bed that he noticed Alice asleep on the sofa, he pulled the blanket off of the chair he'd been in and draped it over her. He let Pietro know when he got to his floor, their rooms were side by side, and Pietro moved her onto his bed, he assumed there was a reason she wasn't in her own. Then he settled down on his floor and slept, it wasn't that different to his nights in Sokovia.

When Alice woke up in a bed she was surprised, she squinted and looked around. This wasn't her room. This is...

"Pietro," she almost shouted.

"What? What? What?" Pietro rushed, instantly rising and looking for danger.

She squinted at him, "Why am I here?"

"Because the Old Man thought you may not wish to sleep on the sofa. Why are you looking at me so suspiciously?"

"Oh sorry, I was looking around," she stopped squinting, "I needed to work out where I was," she stood up, still in yesterday's clothes but with the slightly too large jumper coming much further than the ends of her arms, and about halfway down her thighs. Pietro thought she looked adorable.

"Well," she yawned, "I'm gonna go and have my swim. Thank you and I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah, is the Captain swimming with you again?"

"He can if he turns up. How did you know he did yesterday?"

"He wouldn't stop talking about how you beat him again, and by a larger margin this time."

"I could always race you instead?" Alice suggested.

"No, it'll be fine. Just ask him not to go on about it."

Alice did her usual one hour swim, Steve didn't join her, and after showering she went back to sorting out the items on her bed. She'd found her glasses about halfway through, and put them on the side for later, she was wearing her contacts, and she was almost finished when she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it she called?"

"Pietro."

"Oh, come in then," she carried on sorting.

"Woah, I guess this is why you weren't in your bed last night," Pietro commented.

"Yeah. I thought I would finally sort out these last few boxes especially since I'm staying," she smiled.

"Find anything cool?"

"Rubik's cube."

"Oh can I have it? Well can I have a go please?"

"Yeah, sure," she picked it up and threw it to him.

He looked at it oddly so Alice explained, "You turn it so that all of the same colour squares are on the same side."

Once he knew how it worked he solved it pretty quickly, curse his quick speed. Alice had gone back to sorting things out after their exchange, and was soon finished.

"Right, training then," Alice decided, that was obviously why Pietro was here.

"Actually, I've got no training planned for today," Pietro answered, "I just came for a chat."

"Well take a seat," Alice smiled gesturing to the bed, and sitting down herself, "What's up?"

Pietro sat down, "Are you sure you were okay yesterday? I mean, you pulled out three knives and five spoons to find a fork last night."

"Oh yeah, just tired, not paying much attention. I walked into Steve yesterday morning after swimming too. I'm working on it though," Alice smiled, "Are you alright? You seemed a little annoyed this morning, about Steve swimming with me."

"It's just that Steve's not your trainer. It should be Natasha and I, what's the phrase, ah yeah, singing your praises. But it's always Steve and I feel that the others may judge me for not telling them all about you," he didn't mention that he felt a little jealous of Steve too.

"Don't worry about all that, you praise me in person when I do things. And I think that's much better than singing my praises when I'm not there," Alice explained, and she pulled him into a hug, "Now come on, I want to show you how good I've got with my katanas."

She stood, dragged him up and whilst still holding one hand she ran out of the door pulling him along.

"There's an easier way of doing this," Pietro laughed scooping her up and running to the training room.

"Well it is a quicker way," Alice smiled, "And it makes it look less like we're dating, since I was accidentally dragging you in the typical movie 'I'm dragging him off for a quickie' style. Sorry."

"Don't worry, Stark's stopped assuming we're dating so well be fine. Now what did you want to show me," Pietro asked.

They were in the simulation room, so Alice programmed in a few enemies and stood in a fighting stance. She didn't have a uniform yet, but she did have her sword holster across her back. She tackled the enemies head first and soon on top of them, she didn't use her usual fighting techniques but she wanted to show off all of her best moves to Pietro.

"I feel like Dave Lizewski with this holster," Alice laughed, when she was done.

"Dave Lizewski?"

"Yeah, Kickass you know, wanna be superhero in the film."

"I've not seen it."

"Oh. I love it," Alice enthused, then to Jarvis, "Jarvis announce that there is to be a movie night tonight. I'll get the food, but I'm picking the film too. Tell them to just turn up."

"Avengers, Miss Davies has decided on a movie night tonight. She's gonna pick the film and bring the food. You just need to turn up."

Seven hours later and Kickass was playing on the television, there were two bowls of popcorn and a bowl of candy on the table and people were squished into seats all over. Wanda, Vision and Tony were on one sofa, Clint, Natasha and Steve were on the other and Pietro and Alice were squished into the chair. And by squished into the chair I mean Pietro was sat normally and Alice was sat on him sideways leaning one shoulder on his chest. Pietro was secretly enjoying it, well mostly secretly, Wanda occasionally flashed him knowing glances, but Pietro could see that Vision's arm was around Wanda's shoulders and her head was resting on his chest, so he just flashed her a snapshot image and went back to the film. Once it finished many avengers had fallen asleep. Most had done the sensible thing and when they felt drowsy, they went to bed (These were Wanda, Natasha, Tony and Clint), Steve and Pietro had stayed awake, and quite interested in the film, Vision doesn't sleep and Alice was one of those that had fallen asleep, but she'd not gone to bed, she'd fallen asleep on Pietro.

"Erm Steve," Pietro started, quitely, "Could you move Alice so that I can get up please?"

Steve walked over and effortlessly lifted Alice.

"Thanks," thanked Pietro, standing and stretching, "I'll run her upstairs then," he smiled taking Alice off of Steve and rushing up to Alice's room. Alice, he thought was unable to hear him, but Alice was in a form of half sleep that refreshed her as much as full sleep but still allowed her to hear. It was the type of sleep she fell into if she wasn't in a quiet area.

"Alice," Pietro spoke as he laid Alice on her bed and covered her with the quilt, "I just wish Steve wouldn't talk about you so much. It is as though he would like to date you, and that couldn't possibly be true. I also wish Wanda wasn't as close with Vision as she is, she will only get hurt. And I am glad to get this all out talking to you," and with that he stopped talking, placed a small, light kiss on Alice's forehead and ran to his room.

Alice waited for him to leave and then sat up; she could feel herself starting to cry. She headed to the bathroom, took out her contacts and looked in the mirror, "What did he mean that couldn't possibly be true? Why couldn't it be possible for Steve to want to date me? Am I that ugly?" at that she started to cry properly, trying to keep quiet as she knew the others were asleep.

In the end she put on her glasses and headed down to a training room. She needed to hit something and she guessed Pietro would rather it not be him. She walked up to the first punching bag hit it until her knuckles bled, then she bandaged them up and carried on hitting it, with the tears still running down her face. Then she koala gripped the bag and focused on that until sleep caused her to let go and she fell asleep on the training room floor. She awoke at about five thirty in the morning, grabbed her stuff from her room and went swimming, taking her glasses with her to see this time. After her usual hour of swimming she went to breakfast, putting her contacts in first.

"Thanks for taking me to my room last night," Alice said to Pietro.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked concerned that she may have heard what he'd said.

"Of course it's you," she replied, "It's always you," in the voice of Ron Weasley.

"Ooh Harry Potter," Steve commented, "I got that reference," they'd introduced him to Harry Potter a little before the battle with Ultron.

"Yeah, I loved Harry Potter, still do," Alice replied, "It's kinda hard not to being British."

"I've not seen Harry Potter," Pietro confessed.

"Well our next eight movies nights are planned," Alice laughed.

They ended up marathoning the series one particularly quiet weekend.

After four months Alice was tired of being a short Avenger. They had now given up making jokes about her height, but only because they'd ran out of jokes. The final straw had been Tony's contribution. Tony had gotten all of the avengers to stand in a circle around Alice and then rested their elbows on her head whilst Tony took a photograph with his selfie stick, because Tony being the narcissist he is obviously owns a selfie stick. He then set it as the screensaver on every Stark device which included all of their mobile phones.

Once six months had passed Alice had settled in well and decided it was worth a shot to get her stilts out, the avengers could find out now. She'd made herself enough of a part of the team not to worry.

She was on her three foot stilts in the training room to start. She was practicing balance and attack moves, she'd hot more often than she'd missed so decided she could break out her new attachments. She sat and swapped the poles for some sword running blades, like Gazelle's in Kingsman. Alice did some attack training and decided to try running so she headed outside, only to bump into Pietro… Literally bump and the height difference meant she kneed him in the chest.

"Oh my gosh," Alice babbled, "I'm so sorry," She knelt beside him, "I really didn't mean to. It was an accident."

"Stop," Pietro ordered, "Stop applogising. I wasn't looking, it was my fault."

"Well okay," Alice mumbled, standing up and regaining her balance.

"Wow," Pietro gasped, "They look so nice."

"I know, I'm going to try them now," Alice gushed, "Want to watch?"

"You bet," Pietro smiled, not clarifying that he was talking about her legs, not the blades. He rushed over and Alice walked.

"Wait, how can you walk in those so easily, and what are those poles for?" Pietro asked suspiciously.

"'Course I can, learnt as a child. These are poles for walking I can swap these blades out for poles of various heights, these are my threes."

Then she walked off gradually gaining speed until she was running easily and quite quickly.

"Yo Speedy," She called, "You wanna race? But you can only go half speed."

"We're on," Pietro called back, joining her at the start line, "Two laps?"

"Okay. Go!"

They raced and Pietro won, obviously, but Alice was close.

"Now come here and take me on like a man," Alice called.

As he ran at her she stuck her leg out, taking him by surprise and hitting him in the chest with it. He got straight up and although her blades only increased her height by a foot and a half she was still slightly taller than Pietro. The fight was pretty evenly matched, Pietro wasn't using his speed and Alice won. She'd got Pietro on the floor with a 'heel' pointing at his chest and one between his thighs.

"I give up," Pietro sighed, "Let me up."

As Alice moved her phone rang, That Don't Impress Me Much, blared out.

"It's Tony," Alice sighed answering it, "What Tony?"

"Do you greet everyone with what?"

"No, just you. What do you want?"

"Are you planning on using those in battle?"

"Nah, they're just for fun," Alice smiled, helping Pietro up.

"Was that all?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Bye then," She hung up.

"How'd you know it was Tony?" Pietro asked, "You'd not even taken it out of your pocket."

"Custom ringtones," Alice replied, removing the stilts, "You've each got a specific one."

"Ooh what's mine?" Pietro asked.

"I'm not telling you," Alice smiled, "And no ringing it to find out, or asking the others. You'll hear it eventually."

"So what are the others?"

"Clint's got Come Dance with Me by Michael Buble. Steve's is Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by Bette Midler. Tony's you've heard. Natasha's got She's a Rebel by Green Day, and Thor's is Thundershock by ACDC and I'm not telling you Wanda's. Vision's is still default because I've not found one which I think suits him yet." Alice reeled off.

"Oh I always associate him with, erm what's it called, y'know take that."

"Sing it."

"Erm. I can see the world clearly but I have to squint. I am a supersonic specimen. A minor miracle of medicine."

"Oh I know what you mean," Alice continued in the voice of Gary Barlow from the chorus, "And they checked my pulse and it gave them hope that there was no truth to what was wrote," Pietro joined her here.

"Give me half as much but twice as fast today. Might slip away."

By now they'd reached avengers tower.

"It's happy now," Alice smiled, "And I think you're right, "She added setting it as Vision's ringtone.

"So the songs are based upon the personalities and the people?"

"Yeah, like Clint's is based upon dancing at the party. And Steve's is funny 'cause it's about a young bugle boy joining the army, and he's our resident super soldier."

"I see," Pietro mused, "Is mine Gotta Go Fast?"

"Maybe…" Alice drawled

Pietro left it at that assuming the maybe to be a yes. Alice knew he had but never clarified.

A month later Alice took Pietro, Wanda and Steve to their first karaoke. She went first, singing without her power That Don't Impress Me Much. Pietro burst out laughing, and after explaining to Wanda and Steve the ringtones and telling them the others they saw the funny side too. Steve went next singing something classic from the 40's, Wanda picked something modern and convinced Pietro to duet with her. Alice's next choice was also a classic, but from the 50's, Steve skipped his turn and Wanda let Pietro go before her. He picked the Lady's Choice from Hairspray. Steve, Wanda and Alice had never laughed so much before and Alice recorded it on her phone, that was Pietro's new ringtone. Wanda also chose to skip her turn and Alice had drank enough to do something reckless. She grabbed Pietro by the hand and insisted he joined her. They were singing I Really Like You by Carly Rae Jepson. Overall the four enjoyed the night thoroughly and Alice only used her 'talent' for the last song, I Believe in a Thing Called Love, which caused Pietro and Wanda to laugh so much at hitting the high notes they fell off their chairs.

When they got back the other Avengers had all gone to bed, but Alice and the three with her decided to continue the party, keeping to the lower floor as not to disturb those sleeping.

"So what now?" Steve asked as they sat in a circle in the kitchen floor each with a bottle of an alcohol of their choice.

"How about," Alice started, "Never have I ever?"

"What?" Wanda enquired.

"Never have I ever," Alice repeated, "One person makes a comment about something they've never done and if you've done it you take a shot," Alice explained, "I'll get the glasses."

After collecting four shot glasses Alice spoke, "I'll start with an example, Never have I ever kissed Tony Stark."

Pietro and Wanda laughed but none of the three took shots.

"Okay, so we'll go in a circle, Pietro next," Alice dictated.

"Never have I ever kissed someone of the same gender, excluding family and family friends."

Alice and Steve had shots.

"Oh Alice do tell?" Wanda teased.

"I will if he does," Alice countered, looking to Steve.

"Deal," Steve smiled, "It's pretty simple. I was in the army, all male back in my day, and pretty much everyone tried it. Why'd you think it was don't ask, don't tell?"

"It's pretty lonely at the Russian front," Alice commented in the voice of Gruber from 'Allo! 'Allo!, "My story's way more exciting though," she continued as herself, "I was out with a friend, Alex, and now Alex doesn't drink, but he'd just come out to me as gay and decided we'd go out. So being as clued up about the nearby city as I am I said, well I'll take you to Quest. Quest is the most well known gay bar in the city. So we go, and he's drinking coke, and I'm alternating coke and cider as I do, and this couple ask us to dance. So we finish our drinks and join them. It's al fun but after a couple of songs the girl drags me off and well it's a gay bar I'm sure you can imagine… But I didn't let it go further than kissing before I explained I was just moral support and she apologised and left to find a girl who played for her side. Wanda's turn."

"Never have I ever drank as much alcohol as today."

The other three all took shots and Steve laughed, "Go on then Speedy, when have you drank as much as today with out Wanda?"

"Well I've mostly had coke today," Pietro confessed, "I though we ought to have at least one sober Avenger whilst we were out. And you're all rubbish at this so…"

"Never have I ever," Steve started, staring directly at Pietro, "Had a crush on someone older than me."

Pietro and Alice took shots.

"I guess you believe Pietro has then?" Alice teased Steve.

"I was pretty confident," Steve smiled, "Gonna spill?"

"Nope," Pietro answered blushing.

Wanda giggled, and Pietro shot her the world's angriest glare which only made Wanda laugh more. Over the laughing Alice could faintly hear Steve singing, I really really really really really really like you. So she decided to wind Pietro up a little more.

"Aah," She cooed in a cutesy voice, "Has Pietro got a little crush that he doesn't want us to know about?"

"Little?" Steve laughed, "Nice choice of words."

"Well if you can't make height jokes when you're small, you sure as hell can't take them well," Alice replied, then shouted, "Never have I ever not named my crush when asked."

Pietro took the shot.

"Never have I ever had a crush on some one younger than me," Pietro claimed staring at Steve.

Steve and Alice took the shot.

"Ooh, things are heating up here," Alice joke commentated, "Anyone would think they're after the same lass."

"I think they are, Alice," Wanda smiled.

"Ooh fight," Alice chanted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Let's not have a fight," Wanda advised, "At least not now anyway. My turn. Never have I ever slept with a guy."

The three others all drank.

"Story time," Wanda grinned.

"Army," Steve smiled.

"When I was at summer camp I fell asleep on my friend Ollie, Alice said, purposely missing the point.

"Now that's sneaky," Pietro smirked, "But my exact line of though. When I was in the compound I shared a room at the start with two other guys. Then I got put into my own room," Pietro ended sadly.

Oh, sorry," Wanda apologised.

"Don't worry," Pietro smiled, then said, "I did walk in on the other two 'sleeping' together though," he did air quotes at sleeping, "I don't think I'll ever forget that memory, no matter how much we end up drinking."

"Never have I ever romantically kissed someone and not liked it."

They all drank.

"That was rubbish Steve," Alice claimed, "Never have I ever killed someone in real life."

They all drank.

"So let me guess. Steve army," She said army in Steve's voice, "And Ultron for you two?"

"Yeah," They said simultaneously.

"Woah, that's creepy," Alice giggled.

"What do you mean in real life?"

"Well I've killed people in video games and I've killed characters in stories I've written, and in training simulations, but I've never actually really killed a person," Alice explained, "Oh crap," she remarked after checking the time on her phone.

"What?"

"It's one fifteen and Tony's got us in for training tomorrow at nine."

"That's why all the others were in bed when we got in at eleven thrity…" Wanda mused.

"Probabaly," Alice agreed, "Pietro, can you erm, do the thing please?"

"Gladly," Pietro smiled as one by one he depostited the others in their rooms, Alice last, luckily as she decided she was too tired to change herself.

"You're gonna have to do it," Alice decided, "Your shirt's in the wardrobe somewhere," she explained.

"Fine," Pietro grumbled, he was glad he didn't need much sleep.

He bundled Alice out of her current attire ant into the large t-shirt of his, only for her to grab his left hand and insist he stay the night.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, "But let me get out of these jeans first."

"Mmh," Alice mumbled.

"Right, well, if you want me to stop I'm gonna need space."

"There's space at the back, you're bigger."

"Eugh, okay," Pietro mumbled as he climbed across the bed, carefully as to not step on Alice, and settled down becoming the proverbial 'big spoon'. Alice wriggled closer and comfortably became the 'little spoon'.

Pietro was just glad that the mind connection between him and Wanda didn't work whilst they were asleep, unless the feelings were really strong, who knows what her comments tomorrow would be after sensing this.

The next morning, well later that morning really, Alice's alarm went off. At 0630, as it does every day. She gradually remembered the night's events.

"Ah, so that explains the body," She thought as she moved Pietro carefully so she could get up.

She headed to Pietro's room to get him some clothes and then headed for a swim.

At 0730 when Pietro woke, Alice was back in her room getting dressed. He sat up to get a view of Alice with a bright yellow towel wrapped around her head, wearing a purple sports bra, and white underwear, trying to balance on one foot to put her sock on.

"Here," he said offering a hand, but only serving to distract her and cause her to fall.

"Ouch," Alice moaned, "I forgot you were there," She pulled on her other sock and stood to put her shorts on.

"I was trying to help," Pietro commented.

"I know," Alice smiled, "Now get showed and dressed, I'll go make breakfast," she said throwing the clothes at him and leaving the room.

Pietro, as you can imagine, showers very quickly, so he took some time to look around Alice's room. He decided that there were plenty of cool things that he'd have to ask her about later. Most importantly about the Rubik's cube that was all pink…

Alice had poured him cereal with milk for breakfast and had made coffee just the way he liked it. She herself was sat with a mug of tea in one hand and the other in the cereal box eating straight out of it.

Alice refused to let any other avengers but Clint make her tea as he is the only one who does it properly. They all managed to make it cold, apart from the twins who just don't know how to make tea.

By 0845 all the avengers were in the kitchen and since there weren't enough chairs for all of them at the table, and Alice wasn't actually using the table, she moved to let Clint have her chair. She sat on the counter.

"I'd say something about being uncivilised but since you gave me your chair…" Clint joked.

"Comment all you like," Alice laughed, "I'd just sit on you."

"Don't do that," Tony added, "Pietro doesn't like it."

"Why does it always come around to me?" Pietro moaned.

"You didn't see that coming?" Alice laughed, using Pietro's voice.

Before Pietro could retaliate Tony decided to explain today's training, "We're gonna test couples today. In case we need to spread out."

"I've paired Wanda and Pietro, you guys are good together. Clint and Alice, I recall a comment about you balancing each other out. Natasha, you're with Vision. And I'll be with Tony," Steve explained.

"Well someone's gotta keep an eye on him," Alice mumbled with a smile.

They were out in the 'field' when it happened.

"Clint, you're not worried are you?" Alice asked her partner.

"No why?" he replied shooting the arrow without looking at the target, eyes trained on Alice.

"Nice shot, and I can feel worry, but it's not me, and it's not you, and it sure as hell can't be the 'enemies'," Alice explained.

"Don't worry about it. But if it changes let me know," Clint smiled, Now c'mon we've got some bad guys later.

After tackling more enemies to the floor and 'killing' many more, things were starting to heat up. Natasha and Vision had already hit an issue with Natasha getting wounded, taking out one of her arms. Not very helpful. Steve, well he'd got Tony to contend with and everyone knows how much they get on. But they were managing. Wanda was next to face difficulties.

"Pietro!" she shouted, but not early enough for him to grab her before the enemy took her away, this enemy was trained for his quick speed.

Pietro looked after her but before he could put up a chase he heard a cry of a child from a nearby building. He chose to save the child first, Wanda knows enough to care for herself. But as he moved the child to safety he felt pain across the mind connection.

"Well the child's safe," he thought heading towards where Wanda had headed, he asked her over comms where she was. They'd headed towards Clint and Alice.

"We'll handle it," Alice commed to Pietro, "You hold down your side of the fort."

"But," Pietro tried to protest.

"No buts," Clint sent back, "We've got her."

"Right," Alice said to Clint, "The plan is…"

"Well I'd suggest you keep an ear out for her and I'll shoot it," Clint suggested.

"Okay. She's approaching from my left. ETA one and a half minutes," Alice smiled.

"Got her," Clint replied lining up the shot, so it would avoid Wanda, but still take out the enemy.

"Three, two, one," Clint counted before shooting.

"Wanda's safe," Alice commed to Pietro then she felt a wave of relief in her head before getting a reply of, "Thanks, send her back to me, I could do with some help."

"On my way," Wanda though to him."

"See you later," Wanda called heading off.

"It did it again," Alice told Clint.

"What this time?" Clint enquired.

"Relief, just after we told Pietro we'd rescued Wanda…"

"Do you think?"

"Nah. It's probably just me subconsciously."

"If you say so."

"You just keep your eyes on the game," Alice replied rushing past him and stabbing the enemy approaching from behind.

"I'm gonna try something," Alice called.

She climbed a few stories of a nearby building as the enemies puddled below her, then she dropped, swords out stabbing several enemies in her descent.

"That's so cool," Clint complimented.

"I'm just glad it worked," Alice beamed.

The training lasted for one more hour and then at twelve they stopped.

"Well that worked well," Tony smiled as they all grabbed lunch.

The others all said thanks as they ale and discussed what had worked and how they could improve.

"Well I've got lab work to do," Tony excused himself.

"And I'm gonna visit my family for a couple of days," Clint said leaving.

"I'm gonna go do… something to," Alice declared before leaving.

Then she felt a wave of sadness.

Alice text Wanda Make your brother laugh.

Sure enough joy spread through Alice's brain.

You were right she text to Clint The twin is in my head. But how?

IDK. But good on finding out, Clint replied.

Alice decided to head to the lab, and managed to chose the other one to Tony's. She was gonna make a visor so she didn't need to wear her contacts whilst on missions. She decided to base it on Scott's in the X-Men, she'd always loved his visor. She set Jarvis on getting the lens sorted and made to the right prescription and such, whilst she made the rest, she even built the comm into it.

"What ya doin'?" Tony questioned, he needed to fetch something from this lab.

"Creating and optical aide with a built in communication device."

"So a visor to your prescription with a comm. Built in?"

"Correct. I'm so happy with it," Alice enthused putting it on and checking how it looks, "But I've gotta wait on Jarvis getting the lens.

Meanwhile, "Why are you so happy?" Pietro asked Wanda as they watched television.

"I'm no happier than usual."

"Well you're sending really happy thoughts."

"I'm not.

"Are too."

"Am not."
"Are too."

"You two stop arguing!" Steve called from the kitchen.

"You know," Wanda mused, "It could be Alice…"

"Hu…"

"Well earlier I got a text from Alice telling me to make you laugh, and Clint said something about Alice sensing feelings this morning that weren't hers… What if they were yours?"

"Maybe."

Alice, what's got you so happy? Pietro text to her.

New tech Alice sent back How'd you know?

I can feel it.

Oh… You too… Head to the lab, I think you're gonna have to explain. Alice messaged back.

Once down in the lab Alice looked to Wanda and Pietro for an explanation.

"Well our mind thing only developed after the experiments but we assumed it was due to being related, maybe it's not… Maybe it's just formed by close relationships," Wanda explained.

"Could be," Tony mused, "We don't really know much about what Striker did to you."

"But wouldn't it have formed with the Old Man?" Pietro asked.

"Wrong kind of relationship," Wanda thought to Pietro smiling.

"What did I say about doing that?" Pietro said out loud.

"Only do it if it's something you'd rather I didn't say out loud…" Wanda smiled, "Or should I?"

"No!"

"Oh I bet I can guess," Alice said in a sing song voice.

Pietro shot her a look of annoyance but Alice could feel that he wasn't annoyed.

"You're not as annoyed you're trying to make out," Alice teased, "This'll take some getting used to."

"Certainly," Tony said, "I mean one weird pair connection I could deal with, but two, I'm not sure."

"You weren't the intended recipient," Alice commented.

"You're talking fancy again," Pietro laughed, and Alice could feel it.

"That's cute," Alice smiled, "It's nicer when you're happy."

"Right, you're acting too cute for a lab," Tony insisted, "Go, go, be cute elsewhere," he ferried them out.

"Well I'll leave you two to get used to it," Wanda smiled heading off.

"I bet she just wants a reason to go and see Vision," Pietro mumbled.

"Aaw, now your jealous," Alice cooed.

"She's my baby sister," he moaned as they headed towards Alice's room, he was gonna ask about some of her cool things.

"She's twenty! And your twin, not a baby."

"She's still my little sister."

"Twin. She's like what twelve minutes younger. Double standards."

"How?"

"Well you're obviously okay with you getting a partner, but not her?" Alice remarked as she opened her door.

"But Vision's a robot," Pietro insisted sitting on Alice's bed.

"And you two a technically mutants, there's nothing wrong with it. Think yourself lucky, it means your figures are cheaper for kids."

"If she does date Vision we'd be a right family. Two mutants and a robot, with a mind linked human," Pietro laughed.

"From what I can tell the avengers are just a massive family. So we've got a super soldier, a master assassin, a millionaire, two mutants, three if we count Banner, a robot, a God, and two humans, one with a weird mind connection."

"Good point," Pietro laughed, "Now what's this?" he asked picking up the pink Rubik's cube.

"Well I was always told it was a blonde Rubik's cube, to fit with the stereotype of blonde's being dumb. Which I never got," Alice smiled, "Ooh can we send messages like you and Wanda?"

"I don't know," Pietro replied, "This is all new to me."

"So does it work?" he thought to her.

"Did you try?" Alice said aloud.

"Yes, so I guess my answer is no…"

"Sorry, but…" Alice mused with a twinkle in her eye, "Well, and thus us just an idea about this," as she said that she tapped her temple, "But what if you stopped over again tonight and we retried tomorrow?"

Pietro could feel how nervous she felt asking so he agreed.

"That sounds reasonable," he answered, "Maybe we should do it until the Old Man returns, what's that four days…"

"Three."

"Well three then. But maybe we'll do one here and two in mine, yeah?"

"Okay then. Go and collect tomorrow's clothes before we forget. And I'll collect a dvd and we'll watch a movie."

"Action?"

"Nah, musical?"

"Cool."

"See you in five in the lounge."

"See you there."

So ten minutes later the two of them were sprawled across a sofa watching Mamma Mia! with Alice and Pietro singing along, badly. The extra five minutes were used waiting for snacks to cook.

It was an hour later when Steve walked in that things got interesting.

"So when you near me, darlin' can't you hear me, SOS," Alice sang.

"The love you gave me, nothing else can save me, SOS," Pietro continued.

"When you're gone."

"When you're gone."

"How can I even try to go on."

"When you're gone."

"When you're gone."

"Though I try how can I still go on."

They really were bad singers Steve thought as he made dinner and Alice moved on to Does Your Mother Know?

As Pietro turned Alice could feel his annoyance in her brain and hear Steve's laughter.

Keep him calm she thought, as she tried to send calming thoughts to Pietro whilst still singing.

Pietro just stared at her.

"I heard it," he said, causing Alice to stop singing.

"Really?" Alice exclaimed.

"Really," Pietro smiled.

"Well I guess we really bonded over ABBA," Alice laughed.

"But what next?" Pietro asked, talking freely since Steve had left now.

"I think," Alice thought to him, "Our minds have decided," then she smiled, walked over to him and placed a tender kiss on his lips.

Pietro just looked shocked, and Alice's mind also filled with shock.

"Not the intended response," Alice mumbled.

"Fancy talk," Pietro laughed, and Alice's mind cleared to more joy.

"I'm sorry, it's just the usual response to your first kiss isn't shock," Alice apologised.

"Well try again," Pietro teased.

"Then it won't be the first," Alice grumbled.

"Well here then," Pietro replied kissing her himself, "That's your first from me," he smiled.

"And look no shock," Alice teased.

"Give over okay," Pietro grumbled, fake punching her as the sat to finish their musical.

About an hour and fifteen minutes later, Alice and Pietro were stood singing and dancing Waterloo and laughing a Colin Firth's bad dancing.

"So my room then?" Alice asked, after the credits had finished and she'd removed her dvd.

"Yeah," Pietro yawned scooping her up, "One minute."

And sure enough in one minute he was dropping Alice on her bed.

"So," Alice started, "What are we now?"

"Erm a mutant and a human with a mind connection…"

"You know what I mean," Alice said with fake annoyance that doesn't work on Pietro.

"Oh I see. Well I would have to go with we're starting dating."

"Oh really," Alice blushed.

"Is that such a big deal?"

"No," Alice lied.

"I know you're lying," Pietro grinned.

"Okay it is kind of a big deal, since I've wanted it since I arrived. Oh God, don't tell Tony that."

"Why?" Pietro questioned.

"Ooh, you missed it," Alice mumbled, "Right on the day I arrived you remember storming out. Well afterwards I asked about my trial, and well Tony was still in the boyfriend/girlfriend phase of us two and asked why I was not worried about you aver asking about the trial. Well I just turned and said 'Well unlike you I do think about others, but I thought I'd enquire about that whilst we were discussing it. And a second point of dissimilarity, I don't have a desire to sleep with every guy I meet. He's not my boyfriend.' Although whilst saying that I was thinking that I wouldn't mind it, then remembered Wanda and apologised. Did she never tell you that?" Pietro shook his head, "I'll have to thank her for that. But now we are dating after convincing Tony we weren't dating. I don't know what he'll think when we tell him…" Whilst Alice had be talking they'd been getting ready for bed, both in sleep shorts and Alice had a vest top on too, so they got into bed whilst still talking.

"Well we just won't."

"What?"

"We'll just not tell him," Pietro decided, "We'll tell Wanda and the Old Man, but leave the others. We can tell them further along the line, when we know what's happening ourselves a bit more."

"That sounds good," Alice agreed, "I suppose I can tell you that the day you asked what my ringtone for you was, and you suggested Gotta Go Fast? And I said maybe… Well it wasn't it was I Really Like You. And now it's a recording of you singing Ladies' Choice on the karaoke," Alice smiled.

"I bet I sound terrible."

"Not terrible. Hilarious, but not terrible," she laughed, "I'll show it to you tomorrow. Oh and are you getting up with me to swim or am I leaving you again?"

Alice wriggled as she spoke getting into the perfect little spoon position, Pietro didn't mind how she laid as long as she was comfortable. So with her legs twisted around in his and her arms crossed over her stomach holding Pietro's hands as he had his arms wrapped around her. Alice couldn't help but notice how comfortable it felt and how content he was feeling, as she could feel it in the forefront of her mind.

"I'll get up, and maybe you can race me in the pool?"

"Sounds good," Alice yawned, "Night," and with that she turned, kissed his cheek and settled to sleep.

The next morning Alice's alarm went off at 0630 as usual and Alice decided to snooze it until 0700 and sleep more, she was comfortable.

Unfortunately Steve had intended to join Alice that morning and decided to check on her when at 0645 she hadn't turned up.

"Alice," he called knocking on the door.

"Yeah," she called back, half yawning.

"Are you okay it's just you weren't at the pool and…"

"Ooh," Alice squeaked, as Pietro whispered, tell him to go away.

"Alice?"

"I'm fine," she replied, elbowing Pietro to shut up, "I'll be down at sevenish for an hour, I decided I'd earned a lie in after yesterdays training."

"Okay," Steve called back, content with the answer not noticing anything odd, "Maybe I'll see you later then."

"See you later," Alice called back.

"Ten more minutes," Alice whispered to Pietro, "Then we're getting up."

"Mmh," Pietro replied, pretty much asleep already.

0700. Alice's alarm went off again.

"Eugh," she moaned, stretching an arm out and snoozing it again until 0730, "No more snoozing after this though Ro."

"Okay," he breathed, causing Alice to shiver as the breath went down her neck.

"Don't do that," Alice thought to Pietro.

"Oh I'd forgotten this, would've been simpler when Steve was here. And why not Al?"

"Because it tickles," she sent back.

"Ooh your ticklish?"

"Stop," Alice giggle trying to wriggle out of Pietro's grip. All she managed to do was turn around so she just tickled him, which produced some quite funny faces as he tried not to giggle and reveal that he was ticklish.

"Keep it down Ro," Alice thought to Pietro, "Your sister's next door."

"Don't worry Al," Pietro sent back, "She's gonna find out later anyway. But I suppose we should get up."

"I guess so," Alice said aloud getting up and turning off the alarm, then she grabbed her kit bag and turned to Pietro, "Ro, you need to get your stuff."

"I guess so, climb on. And I like Ro," Pietro smiled.

"Okay," Alice smiled back climbing on, "And I like Al, or Allie, you chose."

"Ooh I like Allie better," Pietro said as they ran to his room and too the pool.

After getting changed Alice stepped out in her costume and Pietro felt seriously under prepared in his shorts.

"Are you ready to lose?" Alice smiled.

"Do we need a warm up?"

"You can if you want, ooh look there's Steve."

"Well call him and we can all race, I think I can take him."

"Just remember that water's denser than air and you're horizontal not vertical," Alice laughed, before calling Steve up.

"Yo Steve, wanna race?"

"That is why I was looking for you this morning," Steve smiled.

"Right well we're on. The three of us racing. Keep it a friendly for competition for second place boys," Alice quipped, "I say twenty lengths, which will be five hundred meters, yeah?"

"Sounds good," Pietro agreed.

"Five hundred," Steve confirmed.

They stood on the starting blocks and Alice counted them in. Alice as they'd all expected first, Pietro came second, at four lengths behind Alice, and then Steve finished two lengths behind Pietro.

"No bragging," Alice thought to Pietro.

"Aww you're no fun," he replied aloud.

"I can be fun when I need to be," Alice smiled before jumping back in.

"What now Allie?" Pietro called after her.

"Fourty more lengths Ro," she called back, "I've got two more strokes to practice," she was swimming on her back this time, "Don't worry, I'll be done and dressed for eight thirty."

"She honestly swims that much every day," Steve told Pietro, "I can't even manage half that, but I am twice your age normally, not counting my ice years," Steve laughed.

"Yeah, think we can settle our differences now we're not fighting over the girl?" Pietro asked.

"I always got the feeling she was more into you anyway," Steve replied offering his hand to Pietro.

"Thanks, no hard feelings" Pietro decided, "Well I think that's the phrase you American's use."

"Not just American's," Alice called, "We use it too. But glad to see you two settle your differences. Would you believe that you two are the first two to ever fight over me?"

"Really?" Pietro questioned.

"Really. Which is hard to believe," Alice sighed, then sang, "'Cause I'm big, blonde and beautiful."

"Well two outa three ain't bad," Pietro called back before leaving to get changed.

"Harsh," Alice thought to him.

"True though," he thought back.

"Well yeah, but still," Alice thought with a laugh, "Only thirty to go," she added.

With twenty to go he came and sat on the poolside benches and watched. She was swimming breaststroke now, but they were still conversing in their minds.

"So plans for today?" Alice asked

"Not got any, you?"

"Aah you're not gonna take your girlfriend on an actual date?"

"I could take you out for dinner," Pietro sent, without fully registering he'd thought that to Wanda.

"No reply," Alice sent two lengths later with fake annoyance "Guess I don't deserve a date, maybe I'll go and find Steve."

"I replied."

"No you didn't."

"Did to."

"Did not."

"Did to."

"Did not."

"Pietro dinner would be lovely," Wanda sent back, "Is this a special occasion?"

"I sent it to Wanda," Pietro shouted to Alice, "What now? She thinks we're going out for dinner."

"Well then the we'll take her. No big deal. I've got ten to go, gimme ten minutes okay."

"Okay, I'll google restaurants."

Twenty minutes and Alice was ready to leave the pool, Pietro was busy googling.

"We can't go for dinner yet," he insisted.

"I know. But we can move from the pool side."

"Oh yeah."

"Commandeer us a chair and I'll drop our kit off," Alice dictated.

"Or you get the chair, and I'll drop off the kit," Pietro decided.

"Or we could do that," Alice smiled, "See you in five."

Only the small chair wasn't taken so once again Pietro was sat on it with Alice sat on him. They didn't mind though. The other's had put Hairspray on so Alice was eagerly watching along, just waiting for big, blonde and beautiful, as she knew they'd not passed it. When it came on Pietro and Steve burst out laughing and when Tony asked for an explanation all he got from Steve was two outa three ain't bad, which sent Alice into a fit of laughter too.

"Will someone please explain?" Tony demanded, pausing the film.

Pietro just thought it to Wanda, who between giggles managed to explain the morning's event to the others.

"You never said which was false," Alice thought to Pietro.

"Big," Pietro called back.

"Hey, you'll give it away!" Alice called back in mock annoyance.

"Give what away?" Tony asked.

"Us," Pietro replied, "Damnit."

"Your last answer just blew it," Alice reprimanded quoting Velma from Hairspray.

"Oh you two are a thing and didn't tell me," Wanda fake moaned.

"Well we were gonna tell you over dinner, and tell Clint when he's back, and not mention it to anyone else until it was relevant, but…" Alice drew off.

"Sorry," Pietro thought to her.

"Hey you can't disobey your own rules," Alice told him.

"Wait, you can do that too," Steve asked.

"Explain," Alice replied.

"You can think things to him?"

"Oh yeah, that was an accidental discovery, that I found out in training yesterday," Alice explained.

"But it could be useful," Steve mumbled, "What if when we next do pairs, it's Wanda and Vision, and Pietro with Natasha. Then myself and Tony and Clint and Alice stay the same. And we could test communication with out comms."

"That just might work," Alice said quoting Arthur Shappey in his voice.

"Reference?" Pietro asked.

"Cabin Pressure, I've got to show that to you, I love it," Alice enthused.

And so the avengers accepted Alice and Pietro well and all was okay in Avengers' Tower. Well all was until Clint returned…

Alice was in the kitchen when Clint walked in.

"Morning Old Man," she greeted, having picked up on Pietro's nickname for him.

"Clint's back Ro," she thought up to Pietro.

Sure enough with in seconds Pietro was down, Clint was alerted to this when Alice threw fruit over his head to the new guest.

"So," Alice started, sitting on the counter with her piece of fruit, "Nice time with the family?"

"It was as usual," Clint replied.

"So you started another building project with out finishing the last then," Pietro laughed taking a seat on the counter next to Alice.

"Okay, not as usual then," Clint smiled, "I didn't start a new project, and I've actually nearly finished the last one. The kids have grown so much, and Laura's excited to meet my new partner Alice. I'll have to take you down sometime."

"Laura is so nice, Allie," Pietro added, "She's like the mother I didn't have when I moved here."

"Woah, Allie? Did I miss something big?" Clint asked.

"Erm yeah, we were getting to that," Alice mumbled.

"Well get to it then," Clint demanded, slightly annoyed that he'd been left out of the loop.

"It's a weird story but due to some odd event's Ro and I are dating," Alice eased out, hoping Clint wouldn't be too annoyed.

"And I'm the last to know, that Pietro has a girlfriend," Clint fumed, "He's practically my kid. He almost died for me, and I'm the last to know."

"Yeah, we didn't think this through well," Alice thought to Pietro jumping down from her seat.

"I agree," Pietro answered, also getting down, "Three two one, go!" he counted grabbing her and running, leaving a fuming Clint in the kitchen.

The message got around pretty quickly that Clint was back and Clint was angry. Also that Clint has collected his bow from the armoury…