I am sorry that I am updating so late. I just have been so busy lately. I have managed to get the time to majorly edit all my chapters and finally finish this one. That and I have found myself forcing myself to write it. I have been doing my best though because of all the people who like this story and I know how disappointing it is when a story you like does not get finished. Thanks for those who reviewed! Hope you enjoy :D

Even though I was not given a choice in helping out or not, I had to admit that it felt good to help out people again. That and Steve was very easy to talk with. I had to explain a couple of things as he has had little time to adapt to the current time. It made our conversations a little longer than normal but I found that I did not mind it at all. Forgetting my current situation again, I found myself opening up to him.

We worked till Gran stopped us to say that it was lunch. Food was provided by the people that we were helping. Both Steve and I tried to deny food, but Gran gave us a glare that even had Steve stopping his protests. It was both amazing and terrifying at the same time.

After we ate the huge lunches that we were forced to accept, we got back to work. Steve and I silently worked for the rest of the day, enjoying the cool breeze. By the time it had started to get dark, we had finished helping at least ten stores to get into a state where they could open for business. Despite the nonstop work Steve and I barely had any sweat on us due to a combination of the breeze and our powers. Not that Steve knew that I had any powers to speak of. Yet, he did not notice that I was not sweating like a normal person would or did not point it out. It was nice to be able to have a silence with another person rather than being by myself. Just because I resolved to not socialize with anyone did not mean that I did not want to have interactions with others. I was just protecting people from my curse.

Before I knew it, it was starting to get dark out. Gran had left mid-afternoon with the reason that she needed to open her store for a little while. I guessed that she was satisfied that I had not tried to get away and trusted that I would stay.

"Would you look at that?" Steve asked as he saw how the sun was setting. "Time goes by a lot faster with someone like you to work with, both in silence and when talking. Would you like to have dinner with me? You look skinnier than I was before the serum, and that's saying something."

"I-I am good. I don't want to intrude on you and the others." I stuttered, trying to not offend Steve. He was such a nice guy. He was offering to allow me to go into the Avengers Tower to have dinner with him.

"Nonsense! You've been a big help around here. I don't see a lot of people your age helping out like you just did. Especially with how skinny and ragged you look. Also Tony has been bugging me that I don't make any friends besides the rest of the gang. This will make him stop bugging me for a while about that specifically at least." Steve said that last part with the same resigned tone I heard from Bruce yesterday. Perhaps I underestimated Tony's stubbornness to get what he wants. He wore Captain-Freaking-America down! It is going to be harder than I had originally thought to avoid Tony.

"I need to be somewhere else." I lied unconvincingly. I did not like to lie, so I tried my hardest not to. Because of that fact when I do lie it is hard to make it seem believable. It was similar to how other teens referred to homework: they avoid it at any cost and do not give full effort when they do try to do their homework.

"Do I need to go find the scary lady who made us both accept our lunches and came with you? Because she told me where her store is if I needed her." Steve asked in a voice that reminded me of a teacher threatening to call a kid's parents. That threat was enough for me to nod my head and give him a slightly irritated look. He should not be so casual about getting Gran when she got him to accept the food with only a look. But the fact that if he did find Gran, she would make me go with him had me following behind him.

He was grinning victoriously as he led the way to the Avenger's tower. During the trip there he made sure that I was in his line of vision at all times. He did not trust me to try to sneak away in order to get out of this. Why did he have to pick up on my character so quickly?

In my head I decided that he was a hypocrite. He was not willing to accept things being done for him or things given to him. Yet, when it comes to him helping someone else out, they have to accept it. Giving it more thought, I realized that this statement also applied to me. That meant that I could not point it out to him as that would make me an even bigger hypocrite.

It was a fairly short walk to the Avengers tower. As we got there I felt multiple stares as I walked in with Captain America. The secretary only gave Steve a nod as we passed through to the elevator, too occupied with other tasks. I absently wondered why exactly she had so much work when she was supposed to direct people and make sure only authorized people entered the building.

"Jarvis can you bring us to the lounge?" Steve asked once we entered the elevator.

"Of course Mr. Rogers," came Jarvis's reply. Still fairly new to the whole AI thing, I jumped a little at the voice coming out of thin air. This made Steve chuckle and I gave him a slight glare in return.

"I don't mean to be rude. That was actually my reaction for the first three days I was here." Steve informed me, stopping his slight laughter. At this time the elevator doors opened to reveal a huge living area and a gorgeous kitchen.

"Steve!" Came Tony's voice. "Like I told Bruce I don't mind you bringing in strays but I would appreciate if you asked me first. So who is-Peter! Looks like you and Bruce share the same taste in strays. Seeing as you both picked up the same one." Steve looked at Tony questioningly. "Bruce picked him up yesterday from the expo. Since Bruce doesn't socialize with others often I gave Peter here a private tour of my lab." Tony explained.

"He was helping me with trying to help other people make repairs." Steve explained how he met me. "I brought him here to have dinner with us."

"He's more than welcome to stay for dinner." Tony exclaimed enthusiastically. "Actually, he should stay overnight. I've more than enough room and the bags under his eyes make it look like he hasn't slept for a while."

"Are you sure Tony?" Steve asked. "I've no problems with it. In fact I think it's a great idea. I just didn't think that you would let a person you barely know stay in your tower with you."

"I let all the Avengers stay with me and I barely know you all." Tony pointed out.

"That's different." Steve defended. "People who fight together like we did form a sort of trust that cannot be broken that easily."

"You should know by now that I research everything before letting them get close to me." Tony said casually, making me stiffen. Seeing my reaction Tony turns toward me. "Don't worry I won't turn you in to child protection services only because I know that if I do you won't stay there very long."

"You live on the streets?" Steve asked me in a disbelieving tone. I looked down at my shoes, not willing to answer one of my childhood heroes. Internally, I was a little relieved about the fact that Tony had not found out about me being Spider-man.

"Yep, and that's why he looks like a toothpick." Tony answered for me. I looked up to give him a slight glare. I could not full out glare at one of my idols.

"We'll have to change that." Steve informed Tony. I started to get the feeling that I would have a very hard time getting away from them as Tony nodded.

"Do I not get any say in this?" I asked them weakly despite knowing the most probable answer.

"No," both Tony and Steve confirm at the same time.

"Is there any way to get out of staying here and only having dinner?" I asked as a last pitiful attempt to get them to let me leave. I could get away if I really wanted to, but I had already shown some of my strength today and I did not want to cause them to be suspicious. Being able to escape two Avengers would automatically cause suspicion.

"No," Steve repeated as he steered me towards the gigantic kitchen. He pulled out a chair and sat me down in it. I allowed to it silently. I just had to wait till the right moment to escape from them.

"Popsicle keep an eye on Pete here." Tony told Steve. Despite the nickname Steve nodded and starting setting out the Chinese takeout on the counter while keeping an eye on me. "Jarvis, can you inform the rest of the avengers that the Chinese food arrived?"

"Why didn't you call them down before?" Steve asked curiously.

"Because dinner wouldn't be the same without you capsicle!" Tony stated brightly.

"Will you please stop calling me that?" Steve asked with a tone that implied he knew the answer but had to ask anyway.

"Now why would I throw away a perfectly good nickname?" Tony questioned back, sounding genuinely serious about it.

"Because the nickname is rude and annoying." Steve told him bluntly.

"But that is what nicknames are supposed to be like!" Tony argued.

I decided to use this time to make my escape as they were too occupied in their argument to notice me until I was gone. Unfortunately for me the dreaded Parker luck struck again as Bruce came from the elevator. I was heading for the stairs in order to avoid him. I was hoping that the argument between Steve and Tony was enough to distract him till I was gone.

"Peter! What are you doing here? And why are you heading towards the stairs?" Bruce's voice broke through the argument.

"Jarvis! Why did you not inform me that Peter was trying to leave us?" Tony asked, sounding like he had been betrayed.

"I was not aware that I needed to inform you that he was sir." I could have sworn that Jarvis was being sarcastic.

"Well I will inform you now." Tony sounded a little annoyed as he stated this. "I need you to inform me anytime that Peter here tries to escape." It was then that I actually paid attention to what Tony was saying.

"Hey! You can't keep me against my will! That is kidnapping!" I protested loudly.

"Not once the adoption papers go through." Tony told me off-handedly.

"Tony! You can't go around adopting other people's children and against the child's will!" Bruce scolded Tony.

"But he's an orphan and if you sign right here, I won't be adopting him because you will be." Tony revealed to us while pulling out a stack of papers out of nowhere.

"Tony you know why I cannot adopt him." Bruce stated sadly. "Also we've only known him for one day."

"Yeah but there is a low chance that big green will come out and if any of the rest of us adopt him he is going to be a target for our enemies. Not a lot of people know you are the hulk. Also both Steve and you have come into contact with him and want to help him. Besides if anything happens Jarvis will alert us." Tony argued while revealing surprising facts that I probably was not supposed to hear. Why Tony wanted Bruce to live at the tower made a lot more sense now.

"You are not supposed to just blurt it out to people that you barely know!" Bruce started to look a little on the greenish side. Guessing what was about to take place, I decided to intervene.

"So Bruce is the Hulk?" I asked, making sure that my voice was loud enough for Bruce to hear. I believed I asked the wrong question as Bruce froze and his face had a depressing look on his face.

"Yes, I am the Hulk." Bruce sounded like he was in pain as he said the sentence.

"How is that even possible?" I let the question escape from my mouth because that was the only question I really needed the answer to. Bruce was a nice guy I cannot imagine him hurting someone out of his own free will. Besides the Hulk has not shown up often at all, showing that Bruce has some control over whether he is Bruce or the Hulk. Even if he did transform, the Hulk helped out the Avengers. Surely it is not a mindless beast like everyone thinks it is.

At my question Tony started laughing while Bruce and Steve just looked at me shocked. I was a little confused on their reactions. I mean the hulk got along with the Avengers for the most part right?

Bruce seemed to snap out of his shock after a while and began explaining to me the origins of the hulk. It was so much more interesting hearing about the Hulk than any of the inventions that I had been showed yesterday.

"So the Hulk comes out when your life is danger?" I inquired after his explanation.

"That's one way of putting it I guess." Bruce admitted.

"But you should have died. It's only because of the Hulk that you're able to help people. Without the Hulk I'm not sure that the rest of the Avengers could've handled the invasion alone. No offense to the rest of them." I pointed out to him.

"No offense taken Peter. I'm also unsure how the invasion would've gone had we not had Dr. Banner there." Steve assured me.

"But the Hulk killed people." Bruce protested. "And please just call me Bruce."

"From what I heard it was in order to protect you." Steve argued back.

"So now that the matter of big green is over, it's time for Bruce to adopt Peter." Tony changed the subject.

"But you don't need to adopt me. I'm perfectly fine on my own" I supplied.

"Of course one of us has to adopt you. I'd do it if the media weren't such vultures. People like you are very rare and do not deserve to be living on the streets. Also from the looks of you you're not perfectly fine." Tony assured me.

"I may not agree with Tony a lot but I agree with him on this. While my first thought isn't adoption as that is a little soon, I do think you would be safer here with us than on the streets. You are not going back to living on the streets. Someone as caring and nice as you should not have to fend for yourself on the streets." Steve agreed with Tony.

"It's really fine." I tried to convince them.

"You might as well give up kid. Not only do you have Tony (who doesn't take no for an answer) but you also have Steve who won't back down in what he believes in." Bruce advises me.

"But you can't adopt me." I persisted in a quiet voice. I avoided looking at the in favor of my shoes.

"Why not Peter?" Steve questioned me kindly.

"Because…." I broke off the sentence before I could reveal anything.

"Because what?" Bruce probed in a voice similar to the one Steve used. I looked around and realized that there was no way that I could escape from this situation. Meaning: I had to tell them. Gathering up what little courage I had left, I opened my mouth.

"I am cursed." This sentence was the only thing that I managed to say.

"Why do you think you are cursed?" Bruce asked with a concerned voice.

"Because everyone who has gotten close to me has died and I don't want to kill you guys as well." I admitted in the lowest voice I could possibly manage. I did not reveal that much because I was still getting to know them but I had to tell them something. Besides, I felt a little bit better after saying it out loud.

"You won't have to worry about us Peter we aren't going to die because of you." Tony sounded sympathetic.

"You don't know that." I stated.

"No, but I know that we aren't going to go out and get ourselves killed. We won't die that easily." Steve comforted me.

"But it has happened to every person that I've ever cared about." I tried to convince them of the fact. Why did they not get that it was dangerous being around me?

"Peter you aren't cursed." Bruce said firmly but gently.

"Yes I am!" I cried, on the verge of tears.

"No you're not." Steve repeated. He came over to my side to support me as my knees decided to give out on me. I know that I just met them. I know that they are the Avengers. But the fact was that I still have not gotten over all of the deaths that I seemed to have caused. So that is why I was sitting in Captain America's arms crying my eyes out. Sob after sob escaped from my mouth. I could not have stopped if I wanted to. I was barely aware of the fact that I had fisted Steve's t-shirt, that there was a hand gently rubbing circles on my back, and that there was a reassuring hand going through my hair. All I focused on was the closeness and heat of another human being. I had not felt it since I gave my aunt may a hug before she died. But that only lasted a second.

I did not know how long I cried but I by the time I was done I could not keep my eyes open.

"Rest Peter," I heard a voice say. It was Steve I think. And that was when I fell asleep.