A/N: I'm sorry my posting has slowed a little. It isn't my health, or anything like that. I bought a new car and have been distracted by it - and by trying to figure out all the sync and things that come with it. I hope you all are healthy and happy.

OOOOOOOO

By the time Natasha arrived at the pool, the kids were all involved in a somewhat rowdy game of camel fights. They weren't alone, either. Some of the SHIELD agents were swimming, as well as Clint Barton and his daughter, Lila – who was up way past her bedtime but wasn't going to pass up a chance to play with the bigger kids if she could.

And in this case she could.

Not surprisingly, she was up on Peter's shoulders. Flash couldn't help but make the comment that someone as scrawny as Peter had to have someone little to carry around, but Peter shrugged it off and swung the girl up into place, much to her happiness. He was used to the guy sniping at him and Lila was going to have to go to bed, soon, so he wanted to allow her to enjoy what little time she was going to be in the pool.

Besides, Abe had ended up on Flash's shoulders, and Abe wasn't that much bigger than Lila.

Shuri and MJ had teamed up. Both had commandeered one of the SHIELD guys to use as mounts (although Shuri had, secretly, hoped Steve would show up in time) and had then ganged up on the others, starting with Flash and Abe, and then the rest of their teammates – as well as Peter and Lila. The two girls were competent and shrewd, but Peter was quick, and strong, and very much intended to keep his little passenger from taking a dunking.

Lila squealed every time he made a quick move and almost dumped her, then she would grab a handful of Peter's hair, or wrap an arm around his neck to catch herself. He didn't know which he preferred, but by the time Clint eventually came to collect her because it was bedtime, his head hurt and there were red marks along his neck. He smiled, though, and thanked her for playing with him – as did Shuri and MJ – and she hugged him goodnight and was still smiling when she left.

"She likes you so much," MJ remarked as they all took a break – and the adults all decided that it was getting late and they were done.

It was Saturday night, after all, and even though it was late, there were more interesting things to do than hang out with Peter's teenaged friends.

"It's the tattoo," Ned said, smugly, running his hand along his own. "Girls like guys with tats. It's understandable."

There had been more than a few hard stares when Peter and Ned had pulled off their shirts to swim and had exposed the Avenger tattoos they now sported. Of course they all knew about them – and Ned had shown his off every chance that he could get – but Peter hadn't, and Ned had assured them all that his was even cooler than Ned's.

It was even better when MJ had smirked and shown them hers, as well, because she hadn't mentioned it, before that evening, and had sworn Ned to secrecy. The guys had all whistled in amazement, and Peter had smiled at the reactions. He thought it looked good on her, too, though, really.

"Girls like guys who are polite and treat them like princesses – even when they aren't," Betty told him, primly. "It has nothing to do with a tattoo."

"Lila told Peter she is going to marry him long before he got the tattoo," Shuri added. She smiled at her friend. "Of course, she is also planning on marrying her pony, as I recall."

Peter nodded.

"Peter Pony. She said we have to live with her folks because we'll need a barn."

There were several grins at that.

"Peter can't marry Lila, though," Ned added, looking up as Natasha walked into the swimming area. She wasn't dressed for swimming, but she did look over at the corner of the pool where they were all clustered and smiled at them before she went over to talk to Tony, who was sitting on a bench watching over them kids – even though there were two lifeguards on duty doing the same thing. "He has to marry Shuri if she doesn't find a husband before she's thirty."

Flash wasn't the only one who looked at Peter, speculatively – although they all knew a marriage pact made in high school didn't really mean anything.

"Is that true, Parker?" Flash asked.

"No." He couldn't help himself, though, when he shrugged, and added. "We lowered it to twenty-five."

There were several chuckles at that – although Flash glowered just a little, not enjoying being on the wrong side of what he almost considered sarcasm.

"You have to marry a prince, though," Abe pointed out, looking at Shuri. "Don't you?"

"Like in Princess Diaries?" Betty added.

"Luckily, that is not a stipulation," Shuri told them. "A noble, probably, but it is not as it was in the old days of my grandparents and earlier. Wakanda does not have any other royal families, and we do not take well to outsiders – aside from Avengers and a few other exceptions."

"Like me," Ned said, smugly. "And MJ – and Peter."

"You've been to Wakanda?" Flash asked, incredulous.

"Can't tell you," Ned told him. "It's a secret. If I told you, then I'd have to kill you."

"As if you could," Thomson said.

"Natasha's been teaching me hand to hand," Ned reminded him – another thing that he didn't keep a secret from his friends and classmates. "Someday I'm going to have to register these hands as lethal weapons."

Flash rolled his eyes.

"I could take you." He snapped his fingers. "Like that."

"Not a chance," Peter said, automatically. "Ned's too good for you."

"I've been taking karate since I was five."

"Ned has Natasha as an instructor. He'd clobber you."

The challenge was there, then, and there was suddenly excited tension in the group as Flash scowled.

"This place has a gym. Let's go find out."

"No." Peter looked over at Tony, who was in conversation with Natasha, now, and didn't seem to be paying attention to the one going on in the pool. "That's not going to happen."

"Hiding behind Parker?" Flash asked, looking at Ned.

"I don't need to hide behind anyone," Ned told him, annoyed. "I'll take you on."

"Guys…" MJ was annoyed, too, at the obvious way Ned had allowed Flash to goad him. Her friend was too smart to be that dumb, wasn't he? "Tony won't allow it, so you might as well stop the posturing."

"He doesn't need to know about it," Flash pointed out.

"He knows about everything," Abe said. "His AI is all over the place. Right, Peter?"

"Yes."

"Except your room," Flash reminded them all.

"My AI is in my room," Peter retorted. "And she's not going to keep it a secret."

"Besides," Betty added. "You don't want to get caught being stupid like that." She looked at Flash, in particular. "You've already been kicked out of here."

He scowled at the reminder, but shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm going to go to bed."

"Good idea."

They watched him go, and Ned splashed Peter.

"You should have let me take him on. I'd have wiped the walls with him."

"Natasha wouldn't approve."

Ned looked over at the assassin, again.

"She might."

"Tony wouldn't."

"No. That's true." He shrugged, too. "It would have been fun, though – taking Flash down a peg, or two."

"Are you really that good?" one of the boys asked, skeptically.

"I'm a ninja," Ned told him, flexing his muscles. He smirked. "Peter's a billion times better, though. You want to see someone kick ass… that's who you should watch. He can stand his ground with anyone."

They all turned to look at him, and Peter blushed, unaccountably.

"I'm okay."

OOOOOOOO

"Well?"

Romanoff shrugged.

"Nothing too suspicious; a couple of police reports about people being stopped along this stretch of the road and only having passports for ID, but it looks like it's mostly tourists – probably trying to get a passing glance of an Avenger taking a jog on the road, or something."

Stark smirked.

"Think we should dress Steve up and start charging people to come get a photo with him? Maybe an autograph? We could make a killing, I imagine."

She smiled at that.

"We could make twice as much if we put you in the pictures, too."

"Pepper wouldn't approve."

"True." She looked over toward the kids in the corner of the pool. "Are they about done?"

"I think so," he said. "I hope so. It's been a long day."

"So go to bed. There is security everywhere. Nothing's going to happen."

He didn't look convinced.

"I'll wait." He saw them all turn and look at him – and noticed that they looked a little guilty. Peter and Ned did, anyway. He didn't know the rest of them well enough to really be sure. "Besides, I'll sleep better knowing they're not all hanging out, together, half dressed like they are."

Romanoff smiled her acceptance of that. Before she could say anything, though, Ned got out of the water and walked over to them, looking at Natasha, hopefully.

"Busy?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I might have mentioned to the others that I'm a ninja."

"And…?"

"Now they want me to prove it. Against you."

Romanoff rolled her eyes, amused.

"I'm not sparring with you, Ned. It's after midnight."

"Tomorrow? Just for a minute? I won't ask you for anything else. Ever. I promise. Please?"

His eyes were wide and hopeful, and Tony smirked, because while Ned didn't have the super spy wrapped around his finger like Peter did, she was still fond of him – and his good-nature. And he wasn't asking for much, really.

She scowled at Stark and then shrugged.

"I'll think about it."

"Is that a real 'I'll think about it'? or a mom one, where you're not really going to think about it?" Tony asked. "Pepper has two versions. One for when Peter wants to do something annoying, and one for when he mentions skydiving…"

"No one asked you, Tony." She looked at Ned, again, and shrugged, again.

"Fine. In the morning – but not too early."

"Nine?"

"Meet me in the gym."

"Yes. Thanks."

Ned turned and hurried back to the water's edge, triumphantly, and Tony snorted, amused, and made a motion with his hand while a suspiciously whip-like cracking noise escaped his lips.

"Shut up, Tony."

He snorted, again, but wisely kept his mouth shut.