Chapter One – Deja Vu

"Peter you still with us?" Ms Cole called from the front of the classroom causing the boy in question to snap his eyes up to look at her carefully, and very quickly, closing his laptop.

"It's zero," he answered after quickly scanning the equation on the blackboard; Flash muttered something that sounded like "lucky guess" and he could feel Ned chuckle beside him.

"Very good," Ms Cole conceded, "Now please pay attention."

Peter nodded his cheeks blushing slightly at having been caught. After a few moments of attempting to keep his mind focused on what he had to admit was a very easy lesson he allowed it to wander back to more interesting things. In this case, it had been the news footage of the newly reunited Avengers that had occupied his thoughts since that morning.

How did Mr Stark convince Captain America to talk? He thought wracking his brain for the answer, true he hadn't been present for the end of the fight in Germany but from the news it was clear that the team had split. I wish I could talk to him, he sighed knowing that his current situation was of his own making. He had turned down the chance to join the team, just when Mr Stark really needed more people on his side, the guilt came crashing down once again and he sighed.

"Peter," Ned roused him from his thoughts once again, "It's lunch, c'mon."

"Sorry Ned," Peter apologised giving his 'guy in the chair' a sheepish grin, "There's just a lot going on."

"I've heard that before," Ned teased as they made their way to the cafeteria.

As they sat down at their usual table, Peter with twice as much food as Ned due to his super high metabolism, Ned turned to the one topic Peter wished they could avoid, "So have you heard from Mr Stark? I mean it's so cool that the Avengers are back together! Don't you wish you were with them?"

"Ned," Peter sighed, "Can we please talk about something else?

"Oh right," Ned looked down, "Sorry."

The rest of lunch and the afternoon classes went by smoothly and Peter was able to tune out the excited talk and speculation amongst his classmates about all things Avengers related. Mercifully the final bell for the day sounded and they were all released for the day, walking down the front steps of the school and into the street Ned and Peter did their top secret handshake and parted ways.

The rest of the month passed without incident; Peter attended and excelled at school, aced his decathlon practices, spent time with Ned, did his daily neighbourhood Spider-Man patrols and tried to not think about the Avengers and Mr Stark. Thankfully it was nearly summer and Peter would have two whole months to enjoy himself; although he still didn't know exactly what it would entail as his last summer before his senior year he was excited at the prospect of freedom.

He was sitting with Ned and his decathlon team relaxing when he felt his phone buzz against his leg. Frowning slightly he pulled it out and looked at the screen, "Meet me outside in 5 minutes," read the text message from an unknown number.

"Guys I have to go," he said pulling his books into his arms before sliding them into his second backpack of the year, the first one had broken rather than been stolen this year.

"Everything ok?" Ned asked quietly.

"Yeah," Peter's spider six sense wasn't alerting him to any danger so he figured it would be ok. Plus, the last time it had been a message like this it was from Happy who had then whisked him off to the Avengers complex and Mr Stark had offered him a job.

Trying to calm his breathing Peter made his way through the empty halls and down the steps into the sunlight. Almost at once he saw the sleek black estate car that Happy drove parked, half hidden from view, beside the school. Heart now hammering he made his way towards the car, blinking hard to ensure he wasn't dreaming.

"Hi Happy," Peter said quietly as the man in question came to stand beside the car.

"Hi kid," Happy replied, "How've you been?"

"Yeah good," he shifted his feet, "You?"

"Busy," Happy answered shortly, "The boss wants to speak to you."

"Is he here?" Peter could have saved himself the breath as seconds later Happy was opening the back door of the car and ushering him inside. The relative darkness of the backseat of the car with its tinted windows took his eyes a second to adjust to.

"Underoos," a deep voice said from beside him before he'd had time to say anything, "I thought it more practical to talk here rather than dragging you upstate."

"Mr Stark," Peter fished for the words he was looking for but Mr Stark held up a hand.

"I don't have long," he said simply, "I'm here with an opportunity for you."

"Ok," Peter schooled his face to hide the nervous excitement he was feeling. Tony Stark wouldn't readily admit it but the kid before him had grown up a lot in the last few months and he was, dare he even say it to himself, proud of him.

"I am aware that you currently have not committed to any camps or activities this summer," Mr Stark stated shortly as though this was a usual thing for someone you hadn't had any contact with in the last few months to know.

Peter would have asked how he knew but thought better of it; this was after all the man who had put not only a tracker in his suit but also the Baby Monitor Protocol. "No I haven't, I wanted to keep my options open," Peter confirmed silently adding in his head because I was praying I could do something Stark Internship related, Mr Stark smirked slightly at this as though he could read Peter's thoughts.

"Well I don't think Happy's heath could cope if you were wandering about the city unsupervised all summer," Mr Stark paused and Peter opened his mouth to retort before Mr Stark continued, "And I know that you said you're happy looking out for the little guy," again he paused, "So I'm offering you the chance to come to the Compound to work and train for the summer."

Peter felt his jaw drop and blinked to clear his mind and after several seconds spluttered, "You want me to move to the Compound to train with you guys for the summer?"

"That's what I said," Mr Stark stated, folding his hands in his lap and evidently waiting for Peter's response. Don't turn me down again kid, he thought almost almost nervously.

"Yes Mr Stark!" Peter exclaimed now practically vibrating with excitement, "Thank you Mr Stark!

Mr Stark released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, "Great," he said nonchalantly, "Ok we have to go but Happy will be in touch with details."

"Thank you Mr Stark I won't let you down," Peter assured him still practically jumping up and down in the car before turning to get the door, the memory of the not-hug still clear in his memory.

"Bye kid," was the last thing Peter heard as the car door closed and seconds later the sleek black car was gliding down the street.

"I'm spending the summer with the Avengers," Peter whispered to himself grinning with uncontrollable excitement.