I do not own Spider-Man or the Avengers.

Confusion overwhelmed him when Peter opened his eyes. This didn't feel like one of his usual sleeping arrangements; it was way too soft and big. He lay there for a second as his mind wandered and then bolted upright; the memories were making themselves known and he felt himself redden. He glanced around the room; he hadn't seen much last night as he had been…distracted. The place was very spacious and had a large bed, which he was currently sitting on, as well as a couch.

'Who needs a couch in their bedroom?' he thought in disbelief.

He pulled himself off the bed, stretched, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Can you tell me who else is awake JARVIS?"

"Master Stark is currently in his workshop. I have informed him of your awakening."

The young man snatched his bag from where it lay on the ground and headed for the door. At least his body was feeling better, no residual tingling, and he was still dressed so he didn't have to worry about that.

"What's the estimated percentage of me being able to escape before Mr. Stark finds me?"

"About 31% sir. It would be higher if you knew how to navigate the building."

Peter opened the door and glanced both ways as he thought. He took a chance and started down the right hallway.

"Could you please give me directions JARVIS?"

"Since you asked so politely."

'Score one for manners,' Peter thought.

"You will want to go the other way sir. At the moment you are heading towards Master Stark."

Peter cursed and quickly turned around. He followed JARVIS's directions and was in the middle of a flight of stairs when the AI spoke again.

"Master Stark is about to enter your room. Once he takes note of your absence he will most likely give me instructions not to assist you anymore and will acquire your location."

Peter cursed again and quickened his steps.

"Thanks for all your help JARVIS."

"You are quiet welcome sir. I have not seen Master Stark so riled up in a long time. You will want to take two lefts at the bottom of the stairs and there will be a door to lead you outside."

"Has anyone told you that you are freaking awesome," Peter said with a grin.

There was no reply so the young man assumed that Mr. Stark had found him gone. He hurried up so he was practically jumping the rest of the stairs. He was actually a little surprised when he got outside without being caught and he headed off happily. Peter was feeling a little guilty that he had left Steve to take all the attention but on the other hand he had better things to do then be teased.

"He's a big boy," he thought. "Well more like a big man; a strong man with large hands."

He quickly forced his mind from that train of thought. There was no point in getting attached to anyone; not when he would be leaving this universe and going home. Just the thought of home sent a pang of worry and fear through him and he also forced that away. Worry was fine but breaking down over it was not and would not help his situation.

XXX

Spider-Man wasn't sure whether he should be surprised or not when he found the Avenger's following him the next night. On the one hand they had found him pretty quickly but then again he wasn't really trying to hide anymore. He briefly considered leading them on a chase but decided it would just complicate things. Instead he found a nice large roof, away from the other buildings and under construction, and plopped himself down with his legs dangling over the edge. It wasn't long until the Avenger's showed up and he tilted his head back to look at them upside down.

"Yo, wassup?"

"Yo, wassup?" Iron Man repeated incredulously. "Who even says that?"

"It's all the rage with the kids," Spiderman informed him cheerfully. "You're just out of touch old man."

Iron Man's arm came up with the hand glowing and Captain America quickly grabbed it.

"Let me shoot him," Iron Man growled. "It won't kill him…probably."

Spider-Man considered taunting him a little more but, with the spring board incident still fresh, decided to abstain; the hero probably would shoot him.

"This seems like a lot of overkill; all you big shots come to see little old me."

"We just want to talk," Captain America said.

Spider-Man glanced between them amused; every single one of them had come out, including Dr. Banner.

'They don't know who I am yet,' he thought.

He contemplated telling them and then decided not to. He kind of wanted to see how long it would take them to figure it out.

"About what?" he asked instead.

"Who the hell are you?" Iron Man demanded and the vigilante could practically see the info scrolling inside the helmet.

"You won't find me," he informed him and the hero scoffed.

"Course I will. I know everything; for example I know that S.H.I.E.L.D isn't even attempting to find you. They're just waiting for me to do all the work."

Spider-Man couldn't see inside the helmet but he was fairly sure the hero was glaring at Hawkeye and Black Widow. The woman didn't react at all and the archer just shrugged.

'Well that explained something,' he thought.

He had been wondering if he had caught the eye of the government and it looked like he had. Definitely not a good thing in his mind; he would rather stay away from any government organization if he had the choice.

"As I was saying, you won't find me," he said. "Because I don't exist," he added in dramatically.

He hopped to his feet and turned to lean in towards them.

"I'm a figment of your imagination," he said in a faux whisper.

All the heroes stared at him in disbelief but Dr. Banner's mouth twitched.

"See," Spider-Man said while pointing at the man. "He thinks I'm funny."

"Why are you here?"

It seemed like Captain America was trying to get the conversation back on track and Spider-Man turned his masked face towards him.

"Uh, I live here," he responded confused.

"No, but here," Iron Man emphasised while gesturing. "Why do this?"

Spider-Man glanced around at all of them before sighing. It was a sigh that expressed his disappointment in all of them and Hawkeye bristled; so did Iron Man if the slight metallic noise was any indication.

"Someone has to," he responded simply. "You guys are great and all; I mean I'll give you a call if there is an alien invasion or something but that's just the big picture."

This was something that had bothered him since he had arrived in this universe and he could sense the cracks that were starting to spiral through his good nature.

"Someone has to look at the small picture; there are people getting mugged, raped, and no one tries to help."

He know that that's not true but this subject hit close to home and he was getting carried away.

'Not even you,' he thought though it was implied.

"The police can't do everything."

"Neither can you," Captain America pointed out gently.

"No, but I can do something; I can save lives, help keep families from suffering."

He can't keep the bitterness out of his voice and forced himself to take a moment to get himself back under control. Things had gotten far too serious and he had revealed much more than he had wanted to.

"So impressive tech you got," he commented casually towards Iron Man. "I hope the rest of your cameras aren't so easily played with."

There is a split second of silence while the other heroes try to understand the sudden change of topic and Spider-Man waited gleefully.

"It was you," Iron Man snarled and this time Captain America can't stop him from firing.

Spider-Man leaped to the side with a whoop and then quickly dodged again while laughing.

"You're getting slow in your old age," he taunted.

The vigilante allowed himself to get pulled into the fight, the familiar motions put him at ease, and he trusted his spider-sense to warn him if someone else decided to join in. None of them seemed interested in doing so though.

'Probably because they can tell that I'm not really serious,' he mused.

After all, he was only dodging and taunting; he was making no real effort to fight back. There was a sudden whistling sound, combined with a sudden jarring of his spider-sense, and he threw himself to the side. Upon coming back up he saw Captain America yelling at Hawkeye who looked completely unrepentant.

"Rude," Spider-Man commented even as he bent down to observe the arrow lying on the ground.

Iron Man had stopped firing to join the other heroes in their argument; it seemed he was more annoyed that the archer had disrupted his fight then anything.

"I was just testing a theory," Spider-Man heard.

He huffed and walked over to join them.

"I don't like you," he informed Hawkeye even as he handed over the arrow.

He knew the man hadn't shot to kill him but still.

"Or you," he added to Black Widow as he knew full well it had been her idea.

The woman was studying him thoughtfully and he narrowed his eyes.

"You're thinking; stop it."

"You don't like any of us," Hawkeye snorted and Spider-Man glanced at him in surprise.

"Course I do," he protested. "Dr. Banner was the only person to think I was funny; I'm hilarious by the way," he added ignoring Iron Man's scoff. "So I like him; I have no issues with the Captain and Iron Man is incredibly fun to play with."

He dropped down to sit cross legged on the roof, completely ignoring the scorch mark next to him.

"So, what's your theory?"

He had aimed his question at Black Widow who merely smiled which did not make him feel any safer.

"Oh nothing," she reassured him which Spider-Man answered with a disbelieving snort.

"You're terrifying," he responded.

He switched his gaze from hero to hero before shrugging.

"So can I go now?"

"You're asking for permission?" Iron Man asked incredulously.

"Isn't that the polite thing to do in front of heroes?" he countered.

"You don't consider yourself one?"

Spider-Man glanced at Dr. Banner as he rose to his feet. That was the only thing the man had said all night.

"Nah," he shrugged. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood vigilante."

"Now, if you will excuse me gentlemen, Hawkeye and terrifying lady."

He stepped off the side of the roof and fell. He heard the Captain say something in alarm but Spider-Man merely whopped and grabbed onto a light post at the last minute. He stopped and looked up; the heroes were standing on the roof and looked like they were arguing. Spider-Man waved at them cheerfully before continuing on his way.

XXX

Peter smiled as he finished wolfing down his hotdog; he had just gotten some new parts and was eager to do some meddling with them. Maybe they would help him find a way home; the more he learned the closer he was.

A hand descended on his shoulder causing him to jump and he whirled around. He then proceeded to stare in shock as almost all the Avengers were standing in front of them. Only Natasha was missing and he scanned their faces in disbelief. His stalker was looking amused, Dr. Banner was looking resigned as if he had been dragged out, Mr. Stark looked annoyed and Peter wasn't sure about the Steve. The man wasn't smiling which worried him.

"Peter, my man, nice disappearing trick," Mr. Stark said and the younger man turned towards him.

He offered a weak smile and tried not to fidget. He really didn't have time for this; he should be digging through the internal organs of a broken computer he had salvaged.

"Now it is one thing to leave me in the morning, which no one does by the way, but it is another thing altogether to pull a one nighter on Steve."

Peter stared at him for a moment and then his eyes snapped back towards the blonde. The man was still silent and studying him through dark eyes. For the first time Peter understood how it must have looked; Steve carrying him and massaging him and then the younger man being gone in the morning.

"No it's not like that," he said quickly. "It had nothing to do with you Steve. It was all his fault," a finger jabbed at Mr. Stark. "You were fine, that night was fine. I have no problems with anything that happened at all and it really wasn't your fault."

He stopped his panicked rambling upon hearing Mr. Barton's muffled laugh; his mind did a quick rewind and he flushed. He wasn't sure he could be more embarrassed; the only good thing was that at least Steve was smiling again.

"I got to go," he blurted. "I promised Angie I'd help with her roof."

He turned quickly to get away only to have Mr. Stark slide into place on his right, preventing his escape.

"We'll help too," the billionaire announced brightly and Peter stared at him helplessly before turning as the others joined them.

"What?" he asked weakly.

"Someone gave us a lesson," Steve said and Dr. Banner nodded.

"One we shouldn't have needed to learn," he added in quietly.

Steve placed his hand under Peter's elbow to lead him as the younger man had slowed down.

'I did this?' he thought bemused.

He hadn't meant to teach them anything; he had just been tired and frustrated. Nothing had seemed to be going right and he had taken it out on them.

"Huh," was his eloquent response.

He was actually semi surprised that Mr. Stark still hadn't figured it out but he figured that it wouldn't be long now. He decided to try and relax, enjoy himself, because it wouldn't be long before the figurative shit hit the fan.

Angie took one look at her guests and snapped some pictures.

"No one will believe me otherwise," she explained before easily ordering them around.

Peter stared incredulously as the older woman handled the men as if she dealt with heroes and billionaires every day. He briefly considered slipping away while everyone was busy but paused. He watched as Clint Barton challenged Tony Stark to see who could clear the rubble the fastest, and Dr. Banner was talking with Steve; the conversation bringing smiles to both of their faces.

There was something about this group, these men that calmed him. They made him feel a little better; like there was still hope, that he hadn't failed so with a soft smile he stepped forward to join them, if only for an afternoon.

XXXXX

Well here's the next chapter, and it only took me three weeks this time. I had a lot of fun with this chapter so I hope you all like it too. Let me know what you think as I value all of your opinions plus compliments are always nice to hear haha.