NinjaSheik via AO3: May I request a fic in the aftermath of "Lizards" where the New Warriors and the Web-Warriors get into a fight about being accused of being the mole in S.H.I.E.L.D, and Peter trying to stop the fight, but is actually caught in the middle of the fight, too? I like the idea of the two groups fighting over Peter and being jealous that the other group seems to be "hogging" him to themselves. XD

rated G

Peter walked into the SHIELD cafeteria on the triskelion after a long morning of training alone. His stomach growled audibly as the smell of food hit him. Sundays were "off days", and they were all free to do as they pleased- as long as no evildoers needed a beat down. Usually, that involved loud banter from the various members of the academy while they chowed down their meals.

At first, Peter thought the quiet meant most of the others were already done, that he was late and missed out on some team bonding time. But he quickly realized the cafeteria was full- and the quiet atmosphere was incredibly tense.

After he got his tray, he looked around the room. They were all separated into groups at different tables, when normally they all would be one mass of heroes.

And every set of eyes was on him.

He didn't need his spidey sense to know he was in mega ultra danger. The first person he locked eyes with was Amadeus, who was settled in with Kaine, Flash, and Miles. The next table over (several tables over actually) was Doreen, Tandy, Tyrone, and Triton … weird, usually Ka-Zar and Zabu were with them too.

Tucked away, in a far corner was his original team. After their initial glance his way, they had turned back to their food.

Okay.

Peter glanced around again before catching Miles waving him to sit next to him. Well, then, decision made.

"What's with everyone?" Peter collapsed into to chair between Miles and Kaine.

Amadeus scoffed, "Isn't it obvious?"

Nope, not obvious. "Is it supposed to be?"

Kaine gruffed like he was going to say something, but settled on just a grumble.

"They're all mad you for blaming them." Miles took pity on him. "White Tiger was talking to Power Man and gesturing at us, then them," he motioned to the table where the rest were sitting. "Iron Spider heard them say something about loyalties, or something?"

Uh-oh. "This is about the whole 'find the traitor' thing?"

He got a table full of 'duh' looks.

"Okay. Okay. I'll just go talk to them."

"Kinda hard when they've already left."

Peter turned, finding the other tables empty. He shrugged, they would just get over it.

Okay, Peter thought to himself, they didn't get over it.

"HEY!"

His shout went unheard over the brawl.

The heroes were brawling. Not training. Brawling. Yelling. *Pulling hair. Really?

He slammed the emergency stop on the training simulator. The three teams- his teams- turned to him, all talking (yelling) at once.

"Can't you trust us?" "You like them more!" "It's not fair."

Peter ran a hand over his face. "Training is over. Hit the showers. Cool off."

Man, he wished Fury and Nova were back. Fury would have some wise no-nonsense mini speech and have them all getting along.

And Sam…

Sam would have done something loud and obnoxious from the start. With him around things like this didn't fester- they were thrown in the open. Wow, he never thought he'd miss Sam's loud mouth.

Luke lingered behind, arms crossed, but his body language wasn't hostile.

"Spidey, no hard feelings, but you've gotta talk to them. Everyone is on edge after Rhino..."

With sigh, Peter nodded. "Yea. Yea. I know, I just don't know what to say."

Luke nodded and left as well, leaving Peter alone with his thoughts.

Okay, he could do this. Peter took a steady breath and pushed the classroom door open. He'd arranged it with the teacher ahead of time, and hoped it was worth the extra duties he had to take in exchange.

He strolled down the rows of chairs and desks, noting how each team still sat away from the others. When he reached the front of the classroom he turned, frowning at the class. Most of them knew how to read him even with the mask on, and the others seemed to get the hint.

"This stops." He pointed at each group. "We did what we had to do to find the mole. And it turned out we were right. With a little more cooperation, we may have prevented some of the damage and figured it out sooner."

Few of them looked his way, finding the walls extra interesting today.

"I'm sorry. It was my failure as your leader which caused this. I've been a lousy leader and an even lousier friend."

Peter sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"I am sorry you are angry. At me, and at each other. But I am not sorry for questioning you. We had no way of knowing if someone had been replaced, or brainwashed, or- look," he held his hands up, "if you need to be angry, be angry at me, not each other."

He motioned to the web warriors. "They followed my orders. I knew the mole wasn't one of them, so they were my team for the mission. It wasn't personal, it was the job."

Ava snorted. "Then why did you sit with them at lunch yesterday?"

Wait.

Hmmm.

A wide grin pulled at his lips. "Oh, White Tiger… are you jealous?"

She crossed her arms, "No. But you never hang out with us, or go on missions with us."

"Yea!" Doreen stood up, glancing across the room to Ava. "You never team up with us anymore."

Next to her, Triton nodded and Zabu growled in agreement. Ka-Zar patted Zabu's head, glaring at the floor.

Peter's grin disappeared. Okay, so it wouldn't be easy after all. Think...think…

"I'm not playing favorites." Okay, he was a little. A lot. "I go on the missions I'll be the most effective on. I'm not avoiding anyone. And you shouldn't be turning the training room into an excuse to wail on each other."

"That's what you did."

"He did what he had to."

Thank yooooouuu, Miles.

"Enough." Peter held up his hand before they could start yelling again. Time to pull out his hail mary. "How about a group outing? To the zoo? Let's go have some fun and put this behind us."

Everyone muttered among their groups, then began to nod.

"Great!" Peter clapped his hands together. "Buddy system, pick a partner from another team! I'll meet you all downstairs."

He flipped out the open window before they could complain. Heh. He should get a gold star for his leadership abilities today.

Somehow, he doubted they would get far at the zoo. A group of heroes having fun? Ha! If trouble didn't find them, they we're sure to create it themselves. And maybe fighting against a common enemy again would help start the healing process.