Peter rolled over in bed and looked at his phone. He smiled at the video of Morgan that Pepper had texted him. She had been walking at Christmas but walking was was a term that was being used very loosely. More like stumbling from hand hold to hand hold. But now, she was moving at full speed. The accompanying message also made Peter smile. "I'm about to use your web shooters and web her to the breakfast table."

"Just don't use the tactical ones! Tell Morgan her brother said to settle down and eat her breakfast."

Peter rolled over and started to put his phone back on his nightstand and paused. Rolling back over he pulled up a new message.

"Hey! Make it back to school yet?"

He cringed a little and dropped his phone on his nightstand. As a distraction he thought through the events of last night. He and Bobby had stayed near the fire until it had gotten under control. Bobby hadn't spotted the heat signature again. Peter wasn't sure what to do next. Sighing he got up, fought the urge to check his phone, and headed downstairs to find something to eat. He noticed Bobby sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop. Grabbing the cereal, a bowl, and milk he sat down next to him. "What are you working on?"

"I messaged Scott to see if he knew anything about fire mutants." Bobby frowned at his computer.

"Fire mutants?" Peter shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

Bobby shrugged. "I don't know what else to call it. He's checking with Professor X to see if he has anyone on his radar that fits the description."

Peter continued eating, thinking through the implications of a mutant being involved. "Doesn't Professor X have a way of locating people with a mutant gene?"

Bobby shook his head. "After your dad reached out he figured out something to detect the Terrigen. Apparently it emits an odd signature that he's able to detect easier than most. He's working on expanding it for other mutant genes but it's not 100% reliable yet. The data set just isn't big enough. I mean my mutation is from latent terrigen but it's genetic. Your mutations were caused by some weird serum and a type of gamma radiation. The Hulk's mutation is due to gamma exposure but not the same type as yours. Scott's mutation is genetic but not tied to terrigen. It's kinda hard to nail them all down."

Peter grinned. "So what you're saying is that there's probably more mutants and enhanced individuals out there than anyone realizes."

Bobby nodded. "Exactly. What I saw last night was not a run of the mill person. What I can't figure out is if they always put off that much of a heat signature and I just lost them or if they can turn it off." He looked over at Peter. "Either way I think it's like looking for a needle in a haystack." He sat back in his chair. "Oh, Wyatt texted and asked if we wanted to come over to their place. Something about 'classes start in a couple days and they want to grill out'"

"Wyatt does realize it's January in Boston, right?"

Bobby shrugged. "I think Johnny has spent too much time in California. So do you want to go? They said head over around 2pm."

"Sure. They're in the same apartment they were in before, right?" Peter finished his cereal and took the bowl to the dishwasher.

"Yeah. We passed it last night on our way back." Bobby stood up. "Want to go spar? Jean and Scott were both pretty impressed at how much better I had gotten."

Peter smiled and nodded. Sparing with Bobby was actually kind of fun. He still absolutely hated to hit anything with his fist but Bobby was almost indestructible in his ice form so it took some of the worry out of training. Even when he sparred with Natasha, who could dodge anything he did, or Steve, who could take anything he did, he was still worried about accidentally hurting them. With Bobby he could actually fight. Plus, it made him feel good to be able to help Bobby improve his physical abilities.

Peter shook his curls our after running a towel over his head. He and Bobby had spent more time in the gym than they had intended and now they were having to rush. Throwing on jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie he fastened his watch on his wrist, freezing when he saw '1 new message' from a couple hours ago. Grabbing his phone he pulled up the message from MJ.

"Got here this afternoon. Classes start in a couple days. I'm glad we're talking again."

He stared at his phone. How in the hell was he supposed to respond to that? Chewing on his bottom lip, he debated and finally settled on "Me too." He threw his phone down in frustration. He probably should have said more but he wasn't sure what. Shoving it in another compartment of his brain he finished getting ready.

Finished in record time, he grabbed his phone off the bed, and ran down the stairs, meeting Bobby by the garage. Wyatt and Johnny's apartment was only ten minutes away and thankfully there hadn't been any additional fires today contributing to traffic.

Wyatt pulled the door open after one knock. "Come on in guys." Pulling the door shut behind them he gestured for them to head towards the living room. For an apartment it wasn't too terribly cramped although it did make Peter incredibly thankful his dad had insisted on a house.

"Wyatt, I'm just curious how you're planning to grill in 30 degree weather." Peter slid out of his jacket. Cold was still an issue. He had tried to figure out how to put the same heater in his clothes that was in his Spider-Man suit but finally gave up on it. It just wasn't practical. Which meant he dressed in layers...lots of layers.

Wyatt just shrugged. "Johnny has it worked out. He really wanted steaks so we thought we invite the two of you."

Johnny came down the hallway. "Yeah, we thought a change of pace from the Odyssey might be good. Sue got onto us over the break for having a diet of only bar food so we told her we'd try to eat actual food at least once a week."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, so far I've been able to hide that fact from Pepper. She would fully support eating actual food."

The four boys fell into comfortable conversation about what they did over Winter Break, although Peter's was highly edited to leave out the weekend with the Avengers. They morphed into upcoming classes. They had strategically tried to schedule a couple classes together after finding out they actually studied well together.

"Hey, did you all see that fire last night on the way home?" Wyatt had pulled out a box of dominoes after figuring out that all of them had played before.

"Yeah, it looked bad. Second one of the day. Bobby got stuck in traffic earlier because of another one." Peter paused and didn't launch into his theory that it was arson or the fact that he and Bobby hadn't just seen the fire but had staked it out as well. And he certainly didn't mention the fire mutant.

Johnny dumped the dominoes out and started flipping them over. "Yeah, space heaters and bad heating systems are always a problem this time of year."

Dominoes was an addictive game. Peter had played before at the compound. Playing with the Avengers was a little cutthroat at times. Playing with Wyatt, Johnny, and Bobby was no less competitive. They were several rounds in when Johnny announced that he was going to start the grill and give it a chance to heat up. They all took the opportunity to refill drinks. On his way back from the kitchen, Peter looked out on the deck where the grill was. They actually had a pretty good view of the river. Peter had to get on the roof of the house to actually see anything. Behind high up was something he really missed. So far he hadn't found anywhere in Boston he could access without being seen. He watched Johnny play with the lighter on the charcoals, flames bursting high then settling into a low burn.

Dinner and dominoes was a lot of fun. It was fairly late when Peter and Bobby headed home. Peter was glad Wyatt had texted them earlier. They could all see it becoming a normal Sunday night thing. Classes were starting Wednesday but they didn't have a lot to do other than make sure they had their books. Which gave Peter and Bobby some extra time to devote to investigating the fires. Karen hacked into the police and fire department files and discovered that both departments were convinced that it was the work of an arsonist but they hadn't figured out how they were doing it. Peter and Bobby thought the fire mutant probably had the ability to set fires without the need of any kind of lighter fluid. The problem was, they hadn't been able to detect the heat signature again and that left them with not knowing what their next step should be.