I do not own Spider-Man or The Avengers.
Peter sat on the edge of a roof and buried his face in his hands.
'What am I doing?' He thought miserably. 'I've gotten too involved. With this universe, with these heroes, with Steve and now I have to hide again. Now I have to sneak around, avoid getting caught, and still work on my teleporter. "
He was so lost in his thoughts; he didn't notice when someone joined him.
"So, can you actually teleport?" Bruce asked mildly and Peter jumped.
He turned to stare at the older man who was looking at him.
"What? How do you-"
"I've learned to spot things normal people overlook," he said. "It comes from being on the run," he continued a little bitterly. "Are you running from something or to something?"
Peter paused to think about it. His first response was to something but that wasn't quite right. He was running towards his home, towards his family; but in a way he was also running from his memories. From Uncle Ben, Gwen, Gwen's dad, Doctor Conners, from Osbourne, from all the people he couldn't save.
"Both," he answered honestly and Bruce nodded. "Who-"
"Clint and Natasha know."
"Does Tony?" Peter asked worriedly and was relieved to see Bruce shake his head. "Why not?" He asked curiously.
Tony Stark was a genius after all.
"We've been interfering," was the casual answer and Peter stared at him. "Clint, Natasha, JARVIS, and I," Bruce clarified. "We've been adjusting the numbers a bit."
Peter continued to stare at him.
"Why?" He finally managed to ask.
"S.H.I.E.L.D wants you."
There was definitely some anger on Bruce's face and in his eyes.
"I've had some… bad experiences with S.H.I.E.L.D," Bruce said darkly. "I don't want you to have to deal with them."
Peter thought about it and frowned.
"Don't Natasha and Clint work for them?"
A small smile appeared on Bruce's face.
"Fury told them to inform him once Tony found you."
Peter couldn't help but laugh quietly.
"Loopholes," he said amused and then paused. "But why?"
"Clint finds you amusing," was Bruce's response. "I'm not sure about Natasha. I don't know what her intentions are."
Peter chewed on his lip in silence for a moment and Bruce waited silently.
"And Steve?" He asked.
"He doesn't know. We would know if he did."
Peter raised his eyebrow and Bruce explained.
"Steve can keep a secret; if he doesn't want you to know something, you won't know it, but he's not good at hiding that he knows something. You'll know he knows something, just not what it is.
The younger man snorted in amusement and nodded.
"I see."
There was silence for a moment before Bruce spoke up again.
"You really hurt him, you know."
Peter looks down at the ground and sighed sadly.
"I'm…not staying Bruce," he said hesitantly. "I don't want to get into anything. We'll both be hurt," Peter continued miserably.
He'd really enjoyed the steady comfort of Steve while he had it.
"Then tell him that," Bruce advised. "He deserves to know. And don't start hiding from us," he added.
Peter wasn't sure he liked how perceptive the older man was.
"When I leave," Peter started out slowly. "I'm not going to come back. I don't want to get attached to anything."
"You need to have connections Peter."
Bruce smiled at him.
"Do you want to leave without having any good memories here?"
Peter stared at the ground silently and Bruce got to his feet.
"Just think about it," he said. "You're always welcome at the tower."
XXX
Peter did think about it for the next couple days and still didn't have an answer. Bruce was right but Peter just didn't have the time. He knew he was going to wear himself out though. Gwen had told him many times that he needed to take breaks and Peter wasn't. He was too busy helping out the city, working on his teleporter, and being Spider-Man.
Come to think of it; it would probably be easier to work on the teleport if he rested occasionally and it would be better than having to avoid the Avengers all the time. Plus Tony had some great equipment he could study.
Peter sighed frustrated before pulling his mask on and picking up his new teleport. He studied it careful and nodded before hitting a button. Immediately after, he felt a swirling sensation. He would have cheered if he hadn't felt so dizzy. Though the fact that his teleport disintegrated during his trip didn't make him happy.
The swirling stopped and Spider-Man immediately dropped to the floor and then rolled. He heard two thunks and stayed flat on the ground.
"Don't shoot," he yelped and heard some swearing in response.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
Spider-Man raised his head and then snorted. He had landed in the middle of the Avenger's living room.
'Well at least it works,' he thought amused. 'Even if it didn't take me where I wanted to go.'
"You're probably not going to believe me when I say it's an accident are you?" He asked weakly.
"Dude, I almost killed you," Clint said exasperated.
Spider-Man slowly got to his feet and glanced over. Yep, there was a knife sticking out of the wall right where he had landed and another one on the ground where he had dropped before rolling.
"So I see," he responded amused.
"How'd you know to duck?" Tony demanded and Spider-Man chucked.
"It's the first rule of teleporting," he told him. "Moment you land you drop. What if I had landed in the middle of a jail or something."
"I thought you knew how to teleport," Clint asked.
He was standing behind Tony and was glaring at him pointedly.
"I do," Spider-Man responded defensively. "Just not well."
He looked at all of them and shrugged.
"I only just learned how to and am still figuring stuff out."
He crossed his arms behind his back and whistled.
"Nice place."
"It's mine," Tony said with narrowed eyes. "And it should be impossible to just appear in."
Spider-Man shrugged.
"I'm good at getting into places and as I said it was an accident. It won't happen again," he reassured the man.
He glanced around at all the people. Tony was scowling at him, Bruce looked exasperated, Clint looked torn between amusement and annoyance, he couldn't read Natasha's face, and Steve was looking at him thoughtfully.
"So, any chance you will just show me where the front door is?" Spider-Man asked hopefully.
"Why don't you just teleport out?" Tony challenged.
"Can't," was his response. "As I said I'm still learning and I can't do more than one in a row at the moment. I could jump out your window but they're probably bullet proof or it would hurt a fuck ton."
"Plus we are on the 32 floor," Steve pointed out dryly.
"And that," Spider-Man agreed.
There was an awkward silence for a moment as they all stared at each other.
"So, door?" He asked.
"What's going to keep you from teleporting in again," Steve asked seriously.
Spider-Man could understand his caution; it was a bit of a security risk having someone who could pop in and out as they liked.
"I wasn't trying to get here in the first place," he told him. "I doubt I could do it again if I actually tried."
He stretched and bounced on the balls of his feet. He wanted to be outside running across the rooftops; it was too stifling being stuck inside.
"Where were you trying try go?"
That question was quiet and uttered by Natasha.
"Home," Spider-Man said truthfully after a moment.
This was getting way too serious for his liking and he bounced over to the window and whistled.
"That's quite a view."
"Well we are higher than any other building in the city."
Spider-Man doesn't need to look behind him to imagine the smug look on Tony's face. He rapped his knuckles against the glass and made a face.
"Yep. Bullet proof."
He pivoted on his foot to face them and grinned.
"You must make a lot of enemies Mr. Rich Boy."
"Excuse me, but that's Mr. Rich Man to you," Tony shot back.
Now that they weren't going to shoot him Spider-Man decided to look around the room. He jogged around the outside and looked at the corners and up at the roof before turning to the others.
"Who wants to play hide and go seek?"
He ignored their expressions and bounced on his feet.
"Come on," he whined. "This place has to have tons of awesome hiding spots."
There was silence as they all stared at him before Clint grinned.
"I'm in."
"What? No," Tony protested. "He is not wandering around the tower."
"Don't you trust me," Spider-Man asked with sadness in his voice.
"No," is the blunt reply and he pouts.
"Aw," Clint sighed.
"We'll play after he's gone," Tony reassured him and Spider-Man gasped.
He flung himself on to the couch next to Bruce, ignoring everyone's flinch, and hugged him.
"They're going to play without me," he whined into his shoulder.
He looked up at Steve.
"Captain," he said. "Make them play with me."
He flicked his eyes over him and smirked.
"Or you and I can play. I'm flexible."
Spider-Man watched, in delight, as the man turned bright red.
"Oh no," Tony shook his head. "No. You do not get to flirt with Steve."
Spider-Man could see, out of the corner of his eye, a small smile cross Natasha's face and did a mental celebratory dance.
"Definitely not as you're draped all over Bruce," Tony continued.
"But he's one of my favourites," Spider-Man protested.
"He's only acting like this because he wants you to flirt with him," Clint said.
"I do not," Tony protested.
"He has a crush on you," Steve added in.
Spider-Man could see the gleam of revenge in the blonde's eyes.
"No I don't," Tony denied.
The vigilante smirked and rose to his feet. He did a slow circle of the man and grinned. He pressed his hands on the shoulders and sighed.
"I'm sorry but you're not my type."
He heard Clint start laughing behind him as Tony spluttered indignantly.
"You would be lucky to have my attention on you," he said imperiously.
"So you do want me to flirt with you," Spider-Man concluded triumphantly and heard Clint laugh harder.
"I, what? No," the genius tried to say before shaking his head. "No, you know what, you can leave now."
"No need to take offence," Spider-Man reassured him. "I'm sure there are lots of other people that want you. Where's the door?"
He could see a gleam in the other man's eyes as he opened his mouth.
"JARVIS open the window."
"Are you sure sir?" The mechanical voice asked.
"Of course I'm sure," Tony rolled his eyes.
Spider-Man looked between the open window and the billionaire confused before he realised. Tony didn't know about his abilities. The man wanted to fluster Spider-Man; make him ask for help. Well he had a surprise coming.
"Now why don't you go jump out a window," Tony smirked.
Spider-Man sighed sadly but walked towards it.
"You're right."
He stepped out the window and heard a bunch of gasps. He pulled himself back up from the ledge he had grabbed to look at them.
"What?"
There was silence for a moment as they looked back.
"How are you doing that?" Tony asked making Spider-Man laugh in delight.
"Strong core muscles," he smirked and looked at Steve. "What do you think? I can show you the world," he offered.
Everyone just stared at him for a moment before Clint started snickering. Bruce was smiling and Tony was trying not to laugh. Steve, for his credit, just looked confused.
"Did you just quote Aladdin at us?" Tony said.
"Quote who?" Steve asked and Spider-Man gasped.
"He hasn't seen Aladdin?"
He tsked, pulled himself up so he was sitting on the edge of the window and not hanging, and shook his head.
"I've just lost some respect for you all."
"We have a lot of things to catch him up with," Tony protested.
"I kinda want to watch Aladdin now," Clint commented.
"How about tonight?" Steve suggested.
"Can I come?" Spider-Man asked feeling slightly ignored.
"No."
He made a face and then glanced down at the outside wall.
"Hey Mr. Rich Man how smooth is your wall?"
"I beg your pardon?" Tony asked confused.
"Your wall," Spider-Man repeated. "The outside one; it looks really smooth, like glass."
"Well it's not glass but it is as smooth as," Tony said proudly. "Like I'm going to have rough walls," he scoffed. "You could practically slide down these."
Spider-Man grinned.
"Oh?"
All of the heroes turned towards him suspiciously.
"I'll catch you all later then," he told them before jumping off the window ledge. Tony was right to his delight. He had no problem sliding down the wall and let out a loud whoop. He slid until he neared the next highest roof, braced himself and jumped. He tucked himself into a ball and rolled as he landed.
'Wonder if Tony would be upset if I came by to do that again, ' he mused.
He turned and waved up at the building even though it was too high for him to even see the window before heading on his way.
His teleporter worked; all he had to do was figure out the locator system.
XXXXX
Hey, I'm back. Sorry for the long wait between updates. It doesn't help that I started a new story too. I blame all your awesome reviewers that keep giving me ideas. Keep giving me ideas though; I love them. Anyway I hope you enjoy the new chapter; let me know what you think.
Oh yeah, any sex scenes will be written separately from this. I've heard from some of my readers that they won't be able to read my story if I up the rating so I am going to keep it the way it is. Thanks to zmae70 for betaing.