Things were fine. Not perfect, never perfect, but decent. Hebi had to deal with her separation anxiety, talking to Matt about what had happened and how she had felt and how they wanted to deal with things the next time a situation like that came up. It… took some work. Namely, convincing Hebi to spend more time away from Matt. Not forever, but just for that first week that Matt was better and he and Hebi were alone at the house. Matt had Hebi spend a lot of time at the office with Foggy while he worked at home, or had her go out to spend time with her friends or over at the Tower to work on her personal project. Which, once Tony found out she had a personal project, turned out to benefit her a lot. In essence, Matt just wanted to make Hebi comfortable with the idea of not being around him all the time when he was relatively okay and recovering from his illness, the residual worry she felt allowing the whole thing to be a sort of "practice" separation to hopefully help things go smoother the next time Matt was sick or injured. They still spent the day after dinner together in their apartment though, so that Hebi wasn't overly stressed.

The big change started at the end of that first week of her being back with Matt, roughly a week before Thanksgiving. Considering school was about to let out for the Thanksgiving holiday, Hebi was going to have some time off and the weather was already too cold for her to fill that time with performances outside. She needed a new pass time.

So, she walked into the Tower swaddled in several long-sleeve shirts, a thick sweater, a beanie, a scarf, and long socks under her jeans and faux-fur lined boots.

It was only forty-seven degrees outside, but she looked like she was dressed for freezing temperatures. It made Peter raise an eyebrow at her when she arrived in the common room, since he would have dressed the same way back when he first got his powers. At least, until his dad gave him self-heating sweaters so he didn't stand out so much.

"You… okay?" He asked his friend, who had pulled the scarf up to cover her mouth. He could see her nose wrinkle, and she pulled down the strip of cloth to reveal her grimace. She took the garment off, laying the fabric on the back of a chair before going to take off her gloves, and then her sweater. She didn't need it in the climate-controlled room.

"Yeah. I just don't handle the cold well," she explained grumpily, hating her thermoregulating issues. Her body still warmed itself, it wasn't completely cold-blooded, but it kept her body seven degrees lower than a normal human's body temperature, making her a lot more sensitive to colder weather.

And she lived in New fucking York. So.

She briefly reminisced back to her foggy childhood memories from when she was five, or her even more foggy and very rare memories from younger than that. She used to love the cold back then, and playing in the snow. Out of all her hospitalizations in the past, none had been for hypothermia strangely enough despite how she used to play for hours in the snow and watch the tips of her fingers slightly turn pale blue from getting too cold. Her mom used to call her a human popsicle. She didn't recall her fingertips ever hurting though, the color change had just been a pretty marvel to her childhood mind that had just made her want to stay out in the cold even longer if anything.

And then, flash forward to present day, and she was more like a human clothes rack in the fall and winter months. She was lucky September and October had been fairly tame.

Peter just watched in mild amusement and concern as the pile of clothes draped over the back of one chair continued to build up higher until Hebi was finally left in her socks, jeans, and a plain pale green t-shirt. Even her beanie had landed on the stack of clothing.

Tony, who had been in the kitchen also watching the spectacle, sipped on a cup of steaming hot coffee as Hebi shook out her newly freed limbs. Once he figured she was comfortable enough, he lowered his mug onto the counter and spoke.

"So, Peter told me you're working on a personal project involving DNA," he said casually. Hebi blinked, looking over at him. Her work with snake DNA had been put on hold during her freak out over Matt, but she had quickly fallen back into it after a day or two of him being better. Just not quite as enthusiastically as before. The teen cracked her neck, working out the kinks for a moment before replying.

"Yeah. Biochem is kinda my thing, you know? I don't know if I'll make any major progress since I'm just working with the school microscopes, or sometimes Hank's if I have time to go over to Pymtech. Why?"

Tony grinned, raising Hebi's suspicions and making her narrow her eyes at him. He straightened his suit jacket—Wait, suit jacket? Hebi's eyes darted to her phone, where the time proudly stated that it was after four PM. Tony only wore suits when he planned to go out or go into a meeting, both of which he usually avoided until he had no other choice, and even if he couldn't weasel himself out of it he tried to schedule meetings so that they were during school hours. And it was Friday, he usually kept his Friday afternoons free to spend time with Peter.

"Well, I figured," Tony started, sounding at his most Philanthropic. Oh no, he was planning on doing some surprise for her. Hebi had gone a few months without allowing the billionaire to shower her with any of his infamously lavish gifts, but it looked like she was about to run out of luck. "That SI has a new biomechanics Department. You know, the one that I developed after making Rhodey's leg braces so that we can distribute similar rehabilitation tech to people all over the world?"

By then, Hebi's eyes had widened. There was only one way a discussion like that could go, after all.

"Stark, you don't mean…"

"Obviously you need to work on the whole 'mechanics' part of 'biomechanics,'" Tony continued with a shrug, walking out from behind the bar and slapping a friendly hand on Hebi's shoulder. "But that's what an internship is supposed to do right? Teach you and develop your skills, yadda yadda. I figure you're good enough on the whole Biology aspect that an internship in the Biomechanics Department wouldn't be far fetched. Buuuut, enough of me droning on. Let's go give you the tour!"

Before the former assassin even knew what was happening, she was being pushed into the elevator with Tony's hands on either one of her shoulders. She was too in shock to process what was happening— internship? Biomechanics? Stark Industries? Her?

She just blinked at the screen that showed what floor they were on, watching as it steadily ticked down until they reached floor three. Tony led her out into a hallway lined with glass walls. Hebi's tactical brain robotically analyzed the surroundings— bullet proof glass, probably pretty soundproof too. The tiles were spotless and well maintained, there was a single heavy-duty metal door every now and then down the hallway. The floor was huge, considering the building was huge. There were three large rooms on either side of the hallway they were on, but there was a fork at the end of the hallway that suggested of more rooms along that back wall and maybe even around an unseen bend.

"These are the lowest-level mechanics labs of R&D. College interns and lower level scientists usually work on this floor," Tony explained as he walked easily down the hallway exuding professionalism. Hebi followed in a trance, glancing past one glass wall to see that every room was a lab. They all had several tables inside, each with at least one scientist hard at work on something. Some were just on a holographic screen that she couldn't see the other side of, typing away what was probably code or adjusting what was probably 3-D schematics. "The glass walls allow people to see what's going on inside, but they also are programmed to adjust the view of holograms inside to protect company secrets. Since tours come through here, it allows only actual employees inside that respective lab to see the details of what the scientists are working on."

One of the men at the lab in the middle of the hallway, on the left, looked up. He and five other people were gathered around a giant hologram, with all their desks pushed up against a wall except for the one closest to the hologram, where the pieces of their apparent project were. His eyes shone in recognition, and the man jogged over to the door. It slid open for him, and he peeked his head out.

"Mini Stark! Did Boss Man come to have mercy on us and let you spend the evening helping us out?" His words made Hebi look to her right, noticing Peter standing there for the first time. She blinked.

I was so distracted that I didn't notice Peter was here the whole time? She thought, the realization shocking her back to her normal awareness. Sloppy. And not something I'm used to. Focus, Hebi.

Peter raised his hands up in mock surrender. "No, no! This is my friend, Hebi. Hebi, this is Jack. He's one of the interns," the teen vigilante told his friend, motioning for Jack to come over. He was college aged, which was to be expected since SI didn't really take high school interns. Except Peter, obviously. And now Hebi, apparently. "Jack, D— Mister Stark is trying to get Hebi to accept an internship with Biomech, a few levels up. Knowing her she's probably gonna try to make some excuse that she isn't good enough, so help us convince her!"

The man's smile widened as he held out a hand, which Hebi shook firmly. "Well! Another teenage genius, then?" Tony, who had been standing back, snorted.

"They just keep coming out of the woodworks," the billionaire joked with a smirk. Jack chuckled.

"Well then Hebi, you shouldn't just tell the Tony Stark no, you know? The benefits are crazy, and he doesn't believe in unpaid internships so you can get some money to spend on… what, candy? That what kids spend all their money on, right? Candy and soda?"

It was Hebi's turn to laugh, and she shook her head. "Something like that," she agreed in amusement, even though she already had a well-paying small business and hardly ever ate candy or drank soda. Jack didn't need to know that.

"Anyway, go look at all the labs. If you're a true nerd like the rest of us, that'll convince you on it's own. Now, if Parker isn't gonna help us with our coding error, I gotta get back to the rest. Nice meeting you, Hebi," Jack waved before jogging back into his lab, joining back up with his fellow ring of interns. Hebi turned her attention back to Tony, eyes wide and still slightly dazed-looking, but much more coherent than before.

"I wanna see everything."

Peter and Tony grinned at that, Peter in joy and Tony smugly, before the two led her deeper onto that floor.

They saw the highest level mechanics floor next, and then the tech labs that developed security tech and where the legal hackers were stationed. They were tasked with hacking SI's stuff (or rather, trying to) in order to determine weak points that needed to be addressed in the security.

"Ted is an intern for this level," Tony told her, of course meaning Ned. For some reason the man refused to call the boy by his real name, but Hebi had already determined that it was an inside joke dating back to B.H.—Before Hebi.

The teen blinked, raising her eyebrows. Okay, that was another teenage SI intern to add to the growing list. Was Tony starting a collection?

"He mostly works from home though, since he can't come here all the time," Peter filled in. "He comes once or twice a month to pick up files and tech to test, and either fixes the codes or tries hacking it to find issues. Sometimes he can't hold himself back and hacks it, and then fixes it. Without taking notes. And then he has to come back and demonstrate what he did to the other interns because he can't do things in the right order," Peter said with a fond eye roll. Hebi found herself smiling at the image. Yeah, that sounded like Ned.

The next labs they visited were the Biomechanics labs themselves, on floor twenty. It was the newest department, so they were oddly placed. Most R&D was on lower levels, since they were Tony's favorites and he didn't want them to have to travel too far to reach their labs or ferry equipment. The higher levels were mostly PR and business floors, which Tony liked significantly less and had no problem making those employees walk farther to their offices. But, floors sixteen to nineteen, where Tony would have placed Biomech, were taken up by the media/social media section of PR. Which, according to Tony, Pepper had declared "too tortured as it is" to be forced to move up. After all, they didn't just deal with the usual SI media shitstorm, but also the media shitstorms surrounding the Avengers both as a group and individually.

Anyway, Tony and Peter led Hebi into what she decided was her new favorite place on Earth. The lab structure was much like floor Three, but the rooms were bigger and there were physical therapy machines and set ups in some labs, with other labs having anatomical models set up, with sticky notes pasted all over. Those sticky notes, both physical and holographic, held what Hebi assumed were notes on the effects of certain types of strain or materials on various parts of the body. She could only read the physical sticky notes though, since the holographic ones were censored via the glass walls, but still. There were large boards with tons of different ideas on them in brightly colored font or marker (depending on if the board was dry erase or holographic), and there were biology stations where robotic limbs were testing out certain braces or other machines. The scientists themselves, in some labs, were testing out their prototypes on themselves while their coworkers made notes.

Peter and Tony could both see the stars in Hebi's eyes as she rushed from one window to another to look in on what was going on, and had to hold back chuckles. Biomechanics was only really half Hebi's expertise, since she was still less than mediocre at mechanics. But her hacking skills were pretty good, so Tony justified that she could help out on the security floors as well if she needed a break from trying to bring her mechanic skills up to par.

But Peter had shown him clips of her biology theories from her various rants at school, and pages from the journal she had allowed him to have that detailed her various "scrapped" ideas that she couldn't bring to life on her own. The girl was smart, and was a genius with biology and chemistry. Tony wanted to help her skill in those areas develop, and he also knew that getting comfortable with advanced tech and engineering would only help her in their society. SI was primarily mechanics and technology based, so it didn't make sense for them to have a biochem or chemistry branch yet. They had Bruce at the Tower most times anyway, if they needed an expert in those fields on short notice. Otherwise, Oscorp or Reed Richards over at the Baxter Building dealt with the majority of chemistry and biochem development. Maybe Tony should make a biochem department just to spite those two (Richards always claimed he was smarter than Stark, which was just Not True and that misconception needed to be answered).

"Our tour isn't over yet," Tony said out loud, filing his idea away to address at a later date. His voice made the excited girl turn around, eyes focused on him. He grinned, smug at her enthusiasm. The SI that she was so excited about was all his, after all (and 12% Pepper's), and was a far cry from the weaponized monstrosity his father had led. Tony nodded. "Come on, there's one more stop."

Hebi and Peter filed in the elevator again, the boy of the two friends bouncing on his heels in anticipation. That made Hebi marrow her eyes— Peter must have known what was coming up and was excited for it. What could that mean?

"You see," Peter apparently couldn't hold himself back as the floor numbers ticked upwards. "Some high level scientists get their own personal labs, like Dad and uncle Bruce and some of the department heads. Dad and uncle Bruce's labs are obviously the best though, they get a whole floor to themselves. But, I have my own lab too, and…" the elevator doors opened right as Hebi, who suddenly had a suspicion as to what was going on, started to feel overcome with excitement again. On this floor, there were only two doors. They each led to a huge room, one of which held Spider-man suits and equipment on the walls, with various Avenger equipment scattered around the tables. Hebi and Peter had worked in one of the smaller labs that could be checked out by scientists or interns for private study before, back when they worked on their school project together. But this was a whole other level. Peter's lab was half a floor of sprawling space, littered with various machines and tables and equipment.

Peter's hands on Hebi's shoulders gently steered her to the right side of the hallway, where she could see straight through the bulletproof glass wall into the second lab.

"A whole floor is too much space for me right now. I don't work on cars or giant metal suits in my spare time like Dad, after all. So, we cut this floor in half and wanted to save the second lab for something special in the future, you know? We used it as storage for a while, but we know that you get fed up with people pretty quickly and like your privacy so when Dad brought up the idea of offering you an internship…" Peter trailed off, allowing Tony to pick up.

"And Peter told me that you were working on a mysterious private project that could benefit from Stark Industries tech, we decided what we wanted to actually use this lab for. It has high-powered microscopes for your DNA project, along with top of the line analyzers, the best chemistry equipment I could buy that wasn't an explosion risk— I don't know what you exactly plan on doing, so I just guessed on what you could use. If you want another machine, just tell me. It'll most likely be like pocket change for me anyway, so don't you dare hesitate to ask, I wanna see what you can make. I also have some of the machines you'll be working with a lot down in Biomech, and obviously you have access to Friday so you can ask for projects from the Security floors if you feel like working on your coding or hacking. Biology models are over there," he gestured to the different anatomical models lined up in one corner of the room. There was also exercise equipment she could use for testing out stuff, like down on the biomechanics floor. Even a few different freezers, refrigerators, and a hot storage.

Hebi just gaped. Her own lab. At Stark fucking Industries. She stumbled to the heavy metal door, which of course slid open upon her approach. She walked almost mechanically around the room, staring wide eyed at each sturdy metal table, each shelf of chemicals and large piece of machinery. Even the cabinets filled with finer machinery, each piece which probably cost more than an entire year's salary for her and Matt combined, drew her eye.

Father and son watched from the doorway as the lithe teen gazed over everything they had set up for her with reverence. Her steps were silent and slow, as if she was afraid of making any noise to disrupt the atmosphere of her new area. They stayed silent as she tested out the buttons on the walls (which could also be activated by Friday, but they knew that buttons would sometimes be preferable for someone hard of hearing compared to having to speak out loud) that controlled the opacity of the glass walls. She could turn them completely dark, obscuring everything she was working on inside the lab from anyone in Peter's lab or the hallway. She messed with the brightness settings of the lights, even, and the venting systems. She made it to the dehydrator, and chuckled at the note that Tony had put there: "Try not to only use this to make tea."

Everything was so perfect, so wondrously beyond what she had ever hoped of achieving. It was ridiculous. It was amazing.

It was also incredibly overwhelming.

"Hebi?" Peter's voice called out hesitantly, causing his friend to turn to him. His face was pinched in concern. "You're pale as paper. Are you alright?"

Hebi did her best impression of a fish for a moment, her lips opening and closing without making sound . Figuring she couldn't force sound out of her throat, she raised her hands to sign… only for them to hang in the air motionless. She just didn't know what to say. Words, for the first time since infancy, completely evaded her.

"I think she likes it," Tony said softly, hand on Peter's shoulder and mouth quirked in a soft smile. Hebi could only nod dumbly.

"So, internship…" Hebi finally managed to croak once they were back on the common floor and away from the speech-stealing lab she could now call her own. She leaned against the back of one of the couches, trying to appear casual despite still looking awestruck. "When do I start?"

—*—*—*—*—*

"Hebi."

"—I just got a few frozen snakes from various zoos and breeders and vet clinics across the state. They were meant to be recycled as feeder snakes—"

"Hebi."

"—but I got them, and it's perfect. I can examine the exact DNA responsible for various abilities and attributes of a snake. I wanna know about their aversion to alcohol? Examine brain tissue and DNA, or samples of their tongue. Maybe even their Jacobson's organ. And their low oxygen re—"

"Hebi, if I have to hear you talk about snake corpses for one more minute, I'm going to go crazy," Matt's deadpan interrupted me, making me look up from my ramble and the notes I had been rapidly scribbling down. Unable to let a chance at teasing my dad go, I raised an eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes. "Crazier, then," he amended. I sighed, but set my notepad down on the counter before turning on the stool to face him.

My father figure was sitting on the couch, Braille paperwork spread out on the coffee table in front of him. His hair was mussed from him running his fingers through it, but everything else about him was wondrously healthy. His heartbeat was strong and steady, his skin and hair was clean and didn't stink of sickness or sweat, his every move was done with its usual strength and fluidity. He was completely back to full strength. Even though I was on my shed, it was wondrous.

"Okay, then if you don't want to hear about my research, what do you want?" I asked, my tone light and teasing. I was back to normal too, for the most part. My anxiety had fizzled out after the week of "practice separation," even though it still spiked whenever Matt was hurt. That was to be expected though. Nothing about my mental condition was solved of course, but it was back to baseline. Time and effort were the only things I could count on to make it better as a whole, so I'd take it step by step.

Matt smirked lopsidedly, apparently he had been trying to tell me something multiple times during my rant and was a bit fondly annoyed at having to repeat himself multiple times.

"I was trying to tell you that Peter and Tony invited us over for thanksgiving dinner. Tony even pulled the 'orphans should stick together' card."

I tilted my head, frowning in thought. Foggy was spending the holiday with his own big family, and taking Karen with him, so we'd be on our own. Sure, we could have gone with them but… well, some of Foggy's siblings were children. And I still had trauma to work through regarding children.

In essence: me around kids was a panic attack waiting to happen, and not advisable.

"I think we should go," Matt's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, making me raise my head to him again. He shrugged, sensing my confusion. "It's people you mostly trust or at least are comfortable around, right? Besides, I haven't spent enough time around them myself. Being Avengers is all well and good, but I would like to personally know the people my daughter spends time with, you know?"

As usual, I felt a little giddiness rise in me when he called me his daughter. Yeah, that still felt good. I grinned widely. I'd love to see Matt's reaction when he met—

My grin slipped.

Sensing my change in mood, Matt sat up, eyebrows wrinkled. "What? You don't want to go?"

"It's not that," I dismissed, crossing my arms. "I'm on my shed."

"Yeah. And..?"

I rolled my eyes behind my shed, shooting Matt the best exasperated look that I could manage at that moment.

"And, I can't take the stuff that Hank made for me to be able to read on my shed. Friday will immediately recognize unauthorized tech and report it to Tony. Holograms, movies, I won't be able to see them and if I say the wrong thing my whole act will go up in flames!"

Matt sighed, leaning towards me. "Okay, first off. What are the chances of them wanting to watch a movie that you haven't already seen after dinner?"

A pause. The Avengers loved rewatching Disney movies or classics instead of new stuff, since new movies could hold triggers they weren't aware of yet. Considering most, if not all, of the Avengers had some form of trauma or PTSD, that was a pretty good reason to only watch new movies after looking through reviews or only when in relative privacy with only one or two trusted people nearby in the event of a panic attack.

"Low," I admitted softly. Matt nodded.

"And what are the chances that they'll shoot up a hologram for you to read? It's a holiday and you aren't helping with the cooking, Hebi. Besides, they said that some people are coming over that you haven't met yet. You'll probably be busy talking to them."

I rubbed the back of my neck, my worry fading away and the knot of anxiety in my chest loosening. Matt was right.

"Besides, deception and appearing confident when you aren't are skills you learned back in you-know-where, and you've made it clear you've mastered them. A thanksgiving dinner with the Avengers isn't an undercover mission or anything, you'll be fine."

I nodded my head, grinning again. Yeah, Matt was right. If I needed to bullshit my way through anything, then I had all the skills necessary to do it well. Besides, Bucky and Nat would have my back. Clint wouldn't though, since he was off spending the holiday with his family.

"Okay. Then yeah, if you're okay with it, let's go spend thanksgiving at the Tower," I finally responded, feeling light again. Matt chuckled.

"Just don't talk their ears off about serpentine cadavers, and we'll be fine."

"But Matt! The DNA!"

—*—*—*—*—*

"Hey Hebi! Aww man, light sensitivity? Nice to see you again, Mister Murdock, glad you could make it!" My best friend's usual ramble greeted us as Matt and I stepped out of the elevator into the common room. I was wearing plain sunglasses that time, forest green ones if I remembered correctly. They didn't have any Pymtech on them, so Friday didn't have any reason to start up an alarm.

"What are you wearing?" Bucky asked once he saw me. I could feel his gaze taking over me, making me snort. Luckily I had already had Foggy describe my clothes to me (with Matt and my own senses both acting as lie detectors just in case the jerk decided to play a badly timed prank) so I could answer him smoothly. I lowered my head as if I was looking down at my shirt, and then slowly raised my head back up at him.

"I'm pretty sure it's just a normal green shirt."

"I'm talking about the camo jeans. Honestly, modern fashion…" Bucky grumbled, making Steve snort and pull his boyfriend into a side hug as he continued to stir something in a pan with his other hand.

Sure enough, true to Matt's warning that there would be two new people here, there were two unfamiliar scents in the air. That was the only cause for concern, considering they might be famous enough for me to be able to recognize them on sight… sight that I happened to be lacking, at the moment.

"Oh, yeah!" Peter spoke up, reaching forward to grab my arm after he led Matt to a seat at one of the couches. "I need to introduce you to Uncle Thor and Uncle Loki!"

Welp, there went any concern that had been lingering about not recognizing somebody. Thank you, oblivious Peter, my friend and savior.

When he pulled me over to some chairs set up in the back corner of the room for extra seating, around a small table with what smelt like books and coffee, it wasn't hard to distinguish the two new people from one another. Thor smelt like rain, clean and crisp, yet also of ozone and sweat. Plus his body temperature was far higher than his brother, and his heat signature took up a lot more space.

Loki, in comparison, was much more subtle. He smelt of old books, and ink and the indescribable odor of Magic. Yet, there was also the odd scent of fresh snow and smoke, the opposing odors balancing each other out. Somewhere my mind registered that he was the god of fire, despite being a frost giant by birth. Quite contradictory, but oddly fitting.

Luckily, I didn't have to be able to actively see them to be in proper awe of meeting them for the first time. I felt both of their gazes heavy on me.

"Hello, friend of Peter!" Thor greeted jovially. "Young Starkson has told us much about you!"

I was silent for a moment, before turning my head to Peter.

"All good things, I hope," I said, and Peter flinched. I furrowed my brows, "You only said good things, right, Peter?"

"Uhhh," Peter rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Indeed," the smooth voice that could only belong to Loki answered easily. "Why would Peter say anything bad to us about you?"

"Okay, that proves it. What embarrassing story did you tell them, Pete?" I asked, shooting my hand out to grab him by the back fo the shirt when my friend tried to dash away from me. He didn't waste a beat, slipping out of his sweater and running bare-chested away from me to duck into the safety of his room. I sighed, shaking my head and unceremoniously dropping his shirt even as Thor burst into laughter at the spectacle we had just put on.

"Anyway," I spoke up, smiling as though I wasn't suddenly mortified at the idea of two Norse gods knowing something embarrassing about me. "As you obviously know, I'm Hebi. That's my dad, on the couch," I nodded to where Matt sat talking to Tony and Wanda, who was curious about her fellow redhead.

"You do not look alike," Thor admitted. "I suppose you get your dark hair from your mother, then?"

"Thor!" Steve reprimanded from his spot at the stove. I was stiff at the mention of my mom, but I knew Thor hadn't meant anything by it.

"It's fine, Capsicle, I'm not made of glass," I said with a wave of my hand, dismissing Steve's verbal warning to the God of Thunder. "I'm adopted. But no, my mother was blonde."

"Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?" Loki quickly changed the subject, obviously aware of his brother's lack of tact. I smiled at him in thanks, and recited the well-practiced lie.

"I have an eye condition. I usually like to stay at home until the symptoms go away, my dad is blind so we usually keep the lights in the house off unless I need them for something, so I don't have to worry about the light hurting my eyes there. But we both agreed it was best for us to spend the holiday somewhere else, so," I gestured to my glasses with one hand and shrugged. "I have to wear them."

Loki's gaze was heavy on me for a long moment, and I feared he had sensed my lie. After all, if anyone would be able to it would be him. Hopefully enough truth had been laced in my words to throw him off, though.

Loki let it go for a moment, and I registered him nodding. "I see. Well, since the little spider is insistent that we talk to you today…" the God said reluctantly, gesturing to a nearby chair. "Might as well sit down while I ignore you."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. Ignoring the trickster's slight stiffening in shock, I turned and pulled the furniture item over before sinking into it.

"Loki, be nice," Thor was scolding his brother, but I just shook my head and held up a hand.

"It's fine. I'd be in a pretty bad place right now if I took everything everyone said to me to heart," I assured the larger God. "Besides, if anything, I'm going to take that as a challenge."

I sensed Loki's head tilt a bit as his brother voiced: "Challenge?" I nodded, feeling my lips pull up a bit into a smile.

"Of course. You assume you're going to ignore me," I said the second part to Loki, placing my arm on the table and leaning forward onto it. "Then I'm going to take it as a challenge to make you pay attention to me. You obviously think I'm just like the other human teenagers you're used to, right? Excluding Peter, we all know he's special in his own right," I shrugged. "But I bet you I'm different than most people you've met before. Wanna take that bet, God of Mischief?"

The silence was heavy between the three of us, my lighthearted bet hanging between me and Loki as Thor watched over in mild apprehension.

"Alright, mortal. I'll give you a chance," Loki answered slowly, and I could once again feel his gaze analyzing my face and body language. "Peter can lift Thor's hammer. I assume you know the requirements to do so?"

I raised an eyebrow, not about to let Loki lead this whole challenge but intrigued enough to hear him out for the moment. "I only know that someone has to be 'worthy,' but I don't know exactly what that entails."

"There are a few specific requirements," Thor took over the explanation. "The wielder has to be honorable, selfless, humble, have the willingness to kill for the greater good, and live the life of a warrior," the man's strong voice recited solemnly. I nodded calmly, although my mind was whirring. I seriously doubted that I was selfless or honorable enough to lift it— a certain rhyme I had taught myself during my years with Dryad came to mind— but it was not a risk I could take. Though maybe it was worth the... wait.

"You said Peter could lift it, though," I reminded them, frowning. "There is no way he would ever have the willingness to take a life."

Thor's face split into a massive grin that was easy for my heat sensors to pick up.

"Indeed! He can lift Mjolnir, but he cannot wield Mjolnir. The only requirement he lacks is the willingness to kill, so the hammer seems him worthy of holding it only."

Ah.

No longer worth trying, if the lack of only one requirement could still affect being able to lift Mjolnir. If I somehow did lift it…

Thor stood up, grabbed something, and came back to plop it on the center of the table.

"Let's see if you can keep my attention then," Loki said, lounging back in his seat. "Try to lift Mjolnir."

I crossed my arms, knowing there was only one way to play this game with him.

"No," I refused, instantly detecting the way Loki froze. Good, my answer shocked him. "I'm not stupid enough to think I have a chance of lifting it, especially if not even Peter can completely wield it. I am well aware of my flaws, thank you very much," I crossed my legs, leaning back in my own chair even as I lifted my chin in Loki's direction slightly. "And I can tell I still have your attention. Now my turn. Are you genderfluid, or trans-gender? Or do you actually identify as a male one hundred percent of the time and mythology is misleading?"

Loki was silent for a moment, which was very telling and I would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel very proud of myself, but soon enough he had his words sorted out and started to talk again. I registered him briefly licking his lips before speaking.

"Gender is… different on Asgard. Not as rigid as you all on Midgard seem to hold it as. But if you must know, I am what you humans refer to as gender-fluid. If I feel like a woman one day, I will become one, and vice versa. One of the advantages of being a shapeshifter, I suppose."

I grinned, happy to have my hypothesis proven.

"What about you, young one?" Thor turned my own question on myself. I paused, actually a little surprised that my answer wasn't immediate. I frowned, tilting my head to actually consider my answer. I was always referred to as female, and I hadn't really had time to consider gender in depth or anything during my crappy childhood or time on the streets. After that, it just didn't really matter. I was Hebi, and Hebi was a human being with occasionally annoying powers. Thinking of myself in terms of gender wasn't really something I did often.

"I… suppose I'm gender fluid, myself," I answered slowly, the answer feeling right as it came from my lips. "I never really considered it before, I guess. Too much to focus on before, I never really sat down to think about it. But now that I am… yeah, some days I feel like a woman and others I'm a man. Gender fluid, then," I nodded to myself decisively, proud of my new self-discovery. Sometimes all it took was a casual discussion to figure something new out about oneself. "But I'm not gonna ask anybody to stop using she/her pronouns with me. I don't really mind what anyone calls me, I'm not a different person now than I was before after all."

"Are you sure?" Peter's voice came up from behind me suddenly, making me turn my head slightly to hear him better. "I can totally switch to they/them, now if you want. I do that for Loki, I even call them Aunt or Uncle depending on the day."

I smiled at my friend, shaking my head. "Nah. I don't think I even notice what kind of day it is most of the time anyway, so you'd have to keep track of it better than me. Anyway, why don't you take Thor and try to steal some food together? Loki and I are busy with a challenge."

Peter gave me a strange look that my heat vision couldn't completely decided, but ultimately shrugged and tugged his Uncle Thor away to go upset he other adults together.

—*—*—*—*—*

Loki decided he liked this new girl. He would never admit it out loud, of course, and he was still cautious and curious about the mortal. But there was something very different about her compared to most humans, even the extraordinary ones gathered in that room.

The demigod's green eyes shone, unaware that green flecks in the hazel eyes across from him would probably have been doing the exact same thing had they been bared. Two mischievous souls, both well versed in the tricks of language and deception, having a grand old time trying to win their silly little challenge. Of course, Loki was no fool. He knew that he was already the loser by virtue of even continuing to entertain the challenge at all, but again he would never admit that out loud.

But, birds of a feather flock together. And there was something about the girl, or perhaps he should just refer to her as "the teenager" or "the mortal" after the recent discovery of her gender. But… no, her legs were crossed and the bangs of her pixie cut dripped femininely over one side of her face, ever so slightly curled at the end. Yes, whether she realized it or not it was a female day for her.

Regardless, there was a… shine. A magical shine to her. Everyone else in the room had one, a magical aura that told of their power and their potential. But Hebi's was different. Not stronger, not by any means. In fact, his brother's aura had nearly drowned out the young girl's own. It was soft, trying to hide behind mental barriers that were hauntingly like the ones hiding the assassin woman, Natasha's, aura. But it was there, the little spark that told of greatness, hiding behind trauma that Loki did not yet know of.

And a magical chill in the air that Hebi was doubtlessly unaware she made. In fact, Loki doubted anyone but he could sense the faint magical chill coming from the young teen.

Yes. Interesting, indeed.

—*—*—*—*—*

Yo!

The genderfluid thing was not planned actually, but it kinda just… happened. Like, Hebi took the reigns and was like: "let me tell themmmmm!"

Yeah. Again, this new discovery won't be at the forefront of the story, more like a background knowledge that doesn't completely disappear. Like she said, Hebi is still Hebi. And yeah, this is partially based on my own experiences. I'm not gonna go into depth or anything, but yeah.

So. Thor and Loki show up finally! Oh my gosh guys, I have this stor D. Like, up to so far in the future. I have so much planning for the arcs coming up and what happens in them, and I am SO EXCITED!

Please comment! I love hearing from you guys!

Thank you SO SO SO much for reading and,

See you next chapter~!