A/N: Hello my fanfamily! (Can I call y'all that? I really need a nickname for my readers, let me know if you have any good ideas.) I am back with Chapter four. Ha! I bet you though I gave up on this story (after all, I am the Queen of never finishing multi-chapter fics!) but I DIDN'T! I am very proud of this chapter, and I really hope y'all like it. Leave a review and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the wonderful Stan Lee (may he rest in piece.) Everything, that is, except the plot.

A Sleepover and a Protective Nephew

The Fourth thing the Avengers found adorable about Peter was the way he acted around and treated his friends and family.

One evening Natasha was walking around the compound with Bruce, talking about random nothingness when, suddenly, uproarious laughter from the lounge area caught their attention.

At first, the voices were unintelligible, and Natasha was quick to pull out one of her guns and Bruce pulled her behind him protectively and instinctively, his hand curling around her waist.

"…and then I threw him into the wall and asked if I needed to call a Nursing Home."

"No, no, dude! Dude, that's insane!"

"You guys really are losers."

Bruce frowned.

"Is that… Peter?" he asked, and he slowly lowered his arm while Natasha put away her gun.

"I think so," was the Russian woman's reply. "But… I don't know who the other two are. FRIDAY?"

"Mister Parker is currently engaged in conversation in the lounge with Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones," the A.I. said in answer to the implied question.

Bruce sighed with relief and shook his head, giving Natasha a soft smile.

"They certainly know how to make noise."

"Who's here?"

The question came from Steve, who came out of his room wearing a tight white t-shirt and plaid pajama pants, and a thick, beat up novel in his hands.

"Peter brought some people over," Bruce explained.

Steve smiled.

"Oh, yeah, Tony told me he was bringing his friend Ned and his girlfriend by earlier today."

"Girlfriend?"

Natasha had a protective look on her face that made Bruce chuckle.

"Do you think we should meet them?" Steve asked.

Natasha looked down the hallway, listening to the laughter.

"I don't see why not," she replied. "But if that girl hurts my маленький паук in any way…"

"Who has hurt the Spider-child?"

A light, airy, accented and sophisticated voice spoke this time, and everyone turned to see Loki walking down the hall, his eyes ablaze and his daggers in his hands.

"No one," Bruce said, and the angry fire left the god of mischief's shocking green eyes.

"Good," was all he said as he put his daggers away.

Loki had grown very fond of the boy, and was very protective of him.

"Well," Steve sighed, and gently tossed his book onto his bed, "let's go meet these kids."

~:~

"Tell me again about the time you stole his shield!"

Steve groaned inwardly when he heard the kid that he guessed to be Ned. Not this again, he thought. He didn't steal my shield!

"Really?" a girl with curly brown hair and beautiful, naturally tanned skin- Steve assumed this was Peter's girlfriend- asked, sounding exasperated. "This again?"

Peter smirked and nudged her with his elbow.

"C'mon, MJ," he said, "it's a funny story! I mean, how many sixteen-year-olds have you dated that have stolen Captain America's shield?"

"You didn't steal my shield, Pete."

The three teenagers whirled around to see Steve standing there, his arms crossed and a small smile on his face, Natasha, Bruce, and Loki standing next to him.

"Hello, there, my маленький паук," Natasha interjected with a grin, stepping forward to ruffle Peter's hair.

"Hi, мама паук," was Peter's reply.

Neither MJ nor Ned seemed surprised by the fact that he knew Russian.

"Are these your friends, Peter?" Bruce asked, already knowing the answer.

Peter blushed.

"Well, uh- y-yeah, this is Ned," Ned was currently in full fanboy mode, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he stared at his heroes, "and this is- um," Peter's blush intensified as he gestured to MJ, "this is MJ."

Michelle extended her hand, her expression neutral and relatively unimpressed by the fact that four- well, three- of the Avengers were standing in front of her.

"Michelle Jones," she introduced herself calmly, as if she could care less that she was talking to superheroes. "You can call me MJ. I'm Peter's girlfriend."

Natasha smirked. MJ said it all with confidence. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all.

Steve smiled and shook her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am."

"Nice to meet you to," suddenly, MJ smirked. "Peter was just telling us, for the thousandth time, how he stole your-"

"He didn't steal my shield!" Steve yelled, then he blushed when he saw the surprised looks he was getting from everyone, and the raised eyebrow he was getting from MJ. "I'm sorry," he added. "But, technically, Peter didn't steal the shield. He… temporarily… confiscated it."

MJ nodded slowly, once, then turned back to her boyfriend.

"Your aunt is coming to pick us up tomorrow morning, right?" she asked him, and the teen nodded. "Good. Because I'm planning on doing some protesting in the afternoon."

"What kind of protesting?" Natasha was liking this girl more and more by the second (but if she hurt her Little Spider in any way, the assassin in her was most likely going to come out).

MJ shrugged.

"Whatever I feel like protesting about."

Peter smiled at her lovingly (the look did not go unnoticed by any of the Avengers or Loki) and glanced at Ned, who continued to stare at the Avengers in shock.

"Oh boy," he said when he saw that his best friend was still in fanboy-induced shock. "MJ, hand me a pillow, please."

The girl handed the closet pillow to Peter, rolling her eyes at Ned as she did so. Peter stood, raised the pillow, and lunged at Ned, hitting him repeatedly in the head with it as he screamed,

"NED! DON'T GO INTO THE TWILIGHT!"

Ned shouted in surprise, jumping away from Peter to avoid the pillow.

"JEEZ, DUDE!" he yelled, forgetting about the heroes (and one sort-of-villain) in the room. "Chill out!"

MJ was laying on her back, laughing so hard that she was gasping for air.

"I- you- twilight-" was all she was able to muster before she was laughing again.

Peter grinned and glanced at Ned, who seemed to immediately understand what he was planning. A slow smirk spread across the other boy's face.

"I don't think you could laugh any harder, MJ," Peter said innocently, creeping toward the girl slowly and quietly so as not to alert her to what he was doing.

"S-sorry," she gasped, "it's j-just that- PETER PARKER!"

Peter had now lunged at MJ, his long, nimble fingers grabbing at her waist as he tickled her furiously, making her laugh harder.

"Peter!" she squealed, "Peter, stop!"

Peter was grinning so large that Steve thought his lips might rip.

"What's that, sweetheart?" Peter joked, and Ned laughed at the nickname. "You want me to stop?"

MJ nodded, a few tears of laughter running down her cheeks.

"My- my stomach hurts," she managed, before breaking into another fit of giggles as Peter worked his fingers even more furiously.

"What do you want me to stop doing?" he asked, bending down so his nose was just a few inches from hers. He tickled her some more. "Oooooh, is it this?" He kept going, and MJ nodded again, her body shaking. "Sorry, sweetheart," Peter continued, bending down further until their noses were touching. "Tickling you is just too much fun."

Bruce, Steve, Natasha, and Loki all watched the scene with grins on their faces, shaking their heads as they watched their boy.

"P-Peter," MJ croaked, her throat sore from laughing.

"Okay!" Peter caved, "I'll stop now."

His fingers stopped moving, and he sat up, pulling MJ with him. Her hair was in her face, and Peter pushed it behind her ear with a triumphant smirk.

"Don't ever do that again," she growled at him, but she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Can't make any promises," was Peter's cheeky reply.

The others watched the three teens, shaking their heads at Peter's antics. They had never seen him this… carefree before. He wasn't like this around anyone, except maybe Tony.

"Well," Steve chuckled, "we'll leave you guys to it. It was nice meeting you, Ned. MJ."

Natasha ruffled Peter's hair and left with Steve, Bruce following quickly behind after giving the trio a smile.

Loki, however, stayed behind, and bent down so he was face-to-face with MJ.

"If you hurt him, Midgardian," the god of mischief said, gesturing to Peter, his voice calm and smooth yet filled with a terrifying coldness, "if you hurt him in any way, I will hunt you down, pick you apart limb from limb, make your life a living nightmare, and not even blink an eye. Are we clear?"

MJ merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"If you're trying to scare me," she said, no emotion in her voice whatsoever, "then you are doing a horrible job at it, buddy." She paused and took a moment to assess Loki's surprised look. "But, yes," she continued, "we are clear."

Loki nodded in acceptance, a small smirk forming on his lips as he stood and walked away.

"I think I like you, Midgardian," he called back to her.

He vanished down the hallway, leaving Ned, MJ, and Peter alone.

After a moment of silence, Peter cleared his throat and said,

"So who wants to watch Star Wars?"

~:~

Another time, Peter was sitting in the lounge with May, MJ, Tony, Steve, Pepper, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor, and Loki when May received a text message.

"Oh!" the young woman cried after reading it. "I completely forgot!"

Every head turned to look at May Parker.

"Forgot what?" Peter asked, curious.

May blushed.

"Um," she hesitated.

Peter raised an expecting eyebrow.

"Uh."

"May," Peter began slowly. "You don't have to hide things from me."

May swallowed. Peter wasn't going to take this well.

"Well," she finally said, a sheepish look coming over her face, "you see…. IhaveadatewithHappyandIforgotitwastodayandIdidn'ttellyoubecauseIknewyouwouldn'tlikeitbutnowyouknowandpleasedon'tbemadandpleasedon'tkillHappybecausehe'sactuallyareallygoodpersonbutIknowhowprotectiveyoucanbeand-"

"Woah!" Peter threw up his hands, trying to get May to calm down. "Woah," he continued. "Slow down, May. And use English please?"

May took a deep breath and decided to cut most of what she said out.

"I have a date with Happy."

Pure silence.

That's what followed when she said it.

Pure silence, and Tony's wheezing, uproarious laughter.

Pepper smacked him hard on the arm, and he shut up instantly, but his face was red and his was grinning like a madman.

Peter was as still at a stone statue. Everyone was watching him to see what his reaction would be.

Slowly, Peter began to move.

He reached for May's hands and gently pulled the phone away from her, his fingers flying across the screen for a moment, until he placed the device on speaker and waited.

After a few rings, a voice- a very familiar voice- said,

"May?"

Everyone flinched when they hear Peter's tone.

"Harold Joseph Hogan, get your butt over to the compound right now."

(A/N: No, I did not make up Happy's real name. I looked it up and this is what the googles told me).

When Happy spoke again a moment later, he sounded scared.

"Of course, Peter," he peeped. "I'll, um- I- y-yeah, on my way right now, sir."

"Good," Peter growled, and hung up on the older man.

Again, there was pure silence.

Until May squeaked,

"So, you're mad?"

Peter smiled kindly at her and took on of her hands in his.

"'Course I'm not mad," he chuckled, his eyes bright and his tone back to normal. "I just wanted to scare him. I will fully support any and every decision you make, okay? Including this one."

May, whose eyes were shining with unshed tears, pulled her nephew into a hug.

"Thank you," she said. "I larb you, Peter."

"I larb you, too," he replied, smiling.

"And just so you know," May added, pulling away, "this doesn't mean I'm completely over Ben. I'm not forgetting him or-"

"I get it," Peter interrupted, reached up to wipe away a tear from his Aunt's cheek. "I want you to be happy." He smirked. "No pun intended."

May chuckled and wiped her eyes.

"But," Peter continued, and May raised an eyebrow, "if he tries anything, I will go full Spider-nephew on him."

Everyone laughed at that, and at that moment, FRIDAY piped up,

"Mr. Hogan is entering the elevator, Mr. Parker." Her tone held amusement. "If you would like to interrogate him, I fully support you in doing so."

"Thanks, Fri," Peter grinned.

The boy stood up and walked to the elevator, crossing his arms and glaring at the door with intensity. He was good actor, everyone else thought. A very good and convincing actor.

Everyone watched with keen interest when the elevator dinged, and the doors swung open to reveal a very nervous Happy Hogan.

Sweat could be seen on his forehead, and Peter held back a laugh at the older man's fright.

"Hi, Peter," Happy's voice cracked, causing Tony to laugh. Happy cleared his throat and repeated, "Hi, Peter."

"Happy," Peter gave a stiff nod. He used his web shooters to grab two chairs from the kitchen nearby and pulled them over. "Have a seat, Happy," he said, gesturing to one of the chairs after sitting in one himself.

Happy did as he was asked, his leg bouncing from nerves.

"So," Peter leaned back and crossed his arms again, fixing Happy with a stern gaze that would send most people running for the hills. "If I may ask, Mr. Hogan, what are your intentions toward my Aunt?"

Happy gulped.

"I, um, I- I just want to make her happy."

Peter raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, fingers rubbing thoughtfully at his chin.

"I see," he said. "And do you intend for this relationship to lead to more than just a casual dinner at a restaurant?"

Peter had never seen someone squirm so much. He was quite enjoying this, to be honest, and was finding it harder by the minute to keep a straight face.

"Hopefully," Happy squeaked.

Peter nodded again approvingly.

"Alright," he said, his stern gaze never wavering. "And I trust that you'll take care of her, and keep her safe? Especially when I am unable to?"

Happy's eyes grew wide, and he nodded.

"Yes sir," he coughed, still incredibly scared of the super-teen in front of him.

Peter finally released the scowl on his face and grinned.

"Good," he declared kindly, his eyes filling with warmth, and Happy released a very loud sigh of relief.

May smiled and stood, walking over to "her boys." She ruffled Peter's hair and kissed his cheek, whispering "I love you, kiddo," in his ear. Happy stood and pressed the elevator button for her, and she stepped in, a twinkle in her eyes. Happy was about to follow when Peter grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

"Happy," he said, his gaze firm and tone serious once more. "You're like an uncle to me, okay?" Happy smiled and nodded. "But if you hurt her, Happy, I swear by the name of all things sacred that I will hand you by your ankles and make you wish you'd never been born."

The older man gulped, nodded again, and hurried into the elevator after May. Soon, they were gone, and Peter was left with the Avengers, who were all chuckling behind him.

"What?" Peter demanded, whirling around. Tony shook his head and continued laughing. "I'm serious!"

"Yeah, kid," Clint replied, giving him a fond smile. "We know you are."