Chapter 10: The Third First Week

Pietro really did make a lot of friends—or, acquaintances at least. He explained at the dinner table that night how he talked to just about everybody he met in all his classes. Steve and Wanda had been a little more reserved, speaking only to the people who talked to them first.

"Sersi's pretty nice. She sits near me in English," Wanda said.

"And there were no…incidents? Close calls? Near-disasters?" Mr. Stark asked.

"Nothing of the sort," Pietro said proudly. "As far as they know, we're normal teenagers."

"Good."

"Speaking of which…normal teenagers don't eat in the basement," Wanda commented.

Pietro threw his fork down. "She's right, they don't! If we're allowed to go to school, are we also allowed to go to the rest of our own house now?"

Mr. Stark hesitated to answer.

"Of course," May said. "I'm still…perplexed…as to why that wasn't already allowed."

Peter could tell by "perplexed" she meant "absolutely livid" because she openly glared at Mr. Stark as she said it.

"There's a kitchen and dining area down here," Mr. Stark defended. "In addition to three bedrooms and a living area equipped with every movie, TV show, and game in existence. I deprived them of nothing."

All three supers immediately and loudly began listing things they were deprived of. This went on for several minutes, after which Mr. Stark announced, "I get it, I get it! You can stop now. I let you go to school, unless there's something more you want from me, I suggest you stop talking."

Pietro listed one last thing and then fell silent.

Mr. Stark checked his watch. "I have a phone call in another time zone. See you all tomorrow. Dinner will be in the upstairs kitchen."

"He's not coming to bed until three in the morning," May declared.

"You're probably right."

"Well, I'm going to get some homework done and go to bed," Steve said.

"Me too." Pietro, Wanda, and Peter stood up and put their dishes in the sink.

"Nobody goes anywhere until the dishes are clean," May warned.

Pietro washed, dried, and put away all of them in under a minute.

"That certainly comes in handy."

~0~

Steve made Peter promise to teach him how to open his locker after school on their third day. "I know the combination, but I'm pretty sure there's a specific technique to it and I'm too scared to try in case I don't get it right and end up standing there trying over and over again like an idiot," he'd said.

"You know nobody even uses their lockers, Steve," Pietro said. "They just carry everything around in their backpacks."

"I know, but it's the principle of the thing. I can't finally go to public school and not learn how to use a locker."

And so Peter met Steve at his locker after sixth period instead of going straight to robotics club with Shuri and Scott.

"The first thing you always do is turn it three times clockwise to clear it. Then you stop on the first number in your combination," Peter explained as Steve followed his instructions. "Now turn it the other way, go past your next number once before stopping on it." Steve did so with utmost care. "And now go the other way again, hit your last number, and open it." Steve hit the last number and tried to lift the latch, but it remained locked.

"Did I do it wrong?"

"I think you waited too long between the first and second numbers. You can't really pause for too long or it considers that a reset."

Steve tried again, faster this time, but he accidentally went past his second number. With a grumble of frustration, he cleared it and tried again. This time, he momentarily forgot the third number and ended up pausing too long on the second while he tried to remember it. He curled his hand into a fist and brought it back as if to punch the locker. Peter held his breath, knowing Steve could easily dent the thin metal.

"On your left," a boy said. One of the football guys walked up to the locker diagonal to Steve's, which he was partially blocking where he stood.

Steve immediately lowered his fist and shuffled out of the way. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. These things are a bitch to open on a good day." He twisted his own combination lock with practiced ease and opened it to switch out his current backpack for another one. "I was running late this morning so I didn't have time to ditch this in the locker room," he explained. "I'm Sam, by the way. You're one of the new kids." Sam glanced at Peter. "Well, the new new kids."

"Yeah," Steve said shyly. "I'm Steve."

"Nice to meet you. I gotta run, but I'll see you around."

"He seems nice," Steve remarked once Sam had disappeared around the corner.

"Shocking, considering he's on the football team."

"Are most of them not nice?"

"The ones I've met certainly aren't." The only one Peter knew wasn't a complete asshole was Thor. Hopefully, there were others, but he hadn't interacted with any of them long enough to tell.

"Every group of people is bound to have a few bad eggs."

"That's true. Ready to give the lock another go?"

"I guess so." Steve seemed markedly less excited this time. However, he got it on the first try. The locker opened with a satisfying click. "You know, it's kinda disappointing when there's nothing inside."

"You'll just have to put something in there."

"Can I put snacks in here?"

"As long as they're properly sealed. The school doesn't want to get ants." Peter's old school had a chronic ant problem. And even a rat problem at one point, but that they'd actually cared enough about to fix.

"That can happen?"

"Yeah. Ants will capitalize on any food source they can access."

"Sounds like Pietro."

Peter snorted a laugh. Between Pietro's and Steve's metabolisms, they needed someone as rich as Mr. Stark just to foot the grocery bill. The lab in the basement had its own fully stocked kitchen with an industrial-sized fridge and freezer. Wanda was the only one of the three with any decent cooking skills, though.

"I'm gonna head to robotics now, but I'll see you later."

"Bye! Thanks for your help."

"Any time."

~0~

The six of them sat around the dinner table in the basement kitchen, devouring a stack of pizzas. Mr. Stark was even on time and didn't say anything about having to leave early for a meeting, which Peter assumed was at least partially due to May's insistence. Celebrating the end of the first week of school was something they'd done every year for as long as Peter could remember. This year, he got three celebrations, once when he started sophomore year at his old school, once when he started here, and now again for his siblings.

"So, how was your first week?" Mr. Stark asked.

Wanda's eyes lit up. "It was wonderful."

"Yeah it was really cool," Pietro agreed.

"Much better than homeschool," Steve said. He grabbed a fifth piece of pizza.

"What's so much better?"

Peter couldn't tell if Mr. Stark was bitter they preferred Stan Lee to whatever online programs he'd had them doing, or just genuinely curious what they'd gained from being permitted this experience.

"There are so many people to meet," Pietro began. "There's this guy in my chem class who asked me to join archery club."

"Since when are you interested in archery?" Steve asked.

"Since Clint described it to me. Dude's got an intense passion for it. Besides, the rest of the club is all girls and he made it clear it would be nice to have a bit more testosterone in the mix."

"It's great that you're already getting involved," May said. "That's the best way to make friends."

"I made some friends just in my classes," Steve said. "Peter, you remember Sam? He's actually in two of my classes. And Carol's in three. I've gotten to know them pretty well."

Aunt May smiled warmly. "That's great, Steve."

"They have a game tomorrow night, actually. They asked if I would come watch."

"I want to go to a football game!" Pietro exclaimed.

"Yeah, you guys can all come if you want."

"Sounds like fun," Peter agreed. "May, can you drive us?"

"Happy can do it," Mr. Stark interjected.

"Are you sure, Mr. Stark? I'd hate to make him work on a Saturday night."

"He won't mind. Downton Abbey comes out on Sundays, not Saturdays."

"Wanda? Are you in?"

"Sure."

"I think that's the perfect way to cap off your first week of real school," May said. "Is Stan Lee's football team any good?"

"I have no idea," Peter admitted.

Steve smiled. "Guess we'll find out."

~0~

"Are you sure you guys don't want to paint your faces? You don't want to look like lackadaisical fans," Happy warned.

"Nobody's painting their faces for high school football," Pietro said. "Especially not at a school that only has like two hundred students."

"You're just trying to get us to embarrass ourselves," Wanda said.

"Fine, you caught me. But this is what you get for making me drive you on a Saturday night."

"Mr. Stark said you wouldn't mind," Peter pointed out.

"Well Tony tends to assume that people who work for him have nothing going on in their lives outside of working for him."

"What were you planning to do tonight?" Pietro asked.

"That's none of your business."

Pietro whispered into Peter's ear. "That means he had no plans."

Happy glared at them in the rearview mirror. "I heard that."

They arrived at the school. Steve, Pietro, and Wanda filed out of the car without a word. Peter at least thanked Happy for driving them. "Don't sweat it, kid," he said with a fond smile.

The bleachers weren't particularly crowded, since the school was so small. In fact, the Jack Kirby side of the field was just as well-populated. "Where should we sit?" Steve asked. Peter hadn't the faintest idea, until he saw Shuri sitting with her brother and Bucky. She saw him and immediately flagged him down.

"How about up there?" Peter suggested, pointing to an empty stretch of bleachers beside them.

"Sure."

"I didn't expect to see you guys here," Shuri said.

"We figured this would be a good way to get used to a new school," Steve explained. "And Carol and Sam wanted me to come."

"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to try out," Bucky said. "Big guy like you ought to be out on the field tackling people, not just watching."

Steve blushed. "I can't play football."

Bucky laughed. "You probably wouldn't even need to know how to make the team. Half those guys out there have no strategy whatsoever, just bulk."

Shuri elbowed him. "Why did you agree to come if you're just going to shit talk people?"

While they argued, Steve filed into a seat. Pietro and Peter followed him. Wanda, on the other hand, glanced to the other side of the bleachers and declared she'd rather sit over there. "What's wrong, you don't want to be embarrassed by your brothers?" Pietro asked. "I promise we'll behave."

"No. I just want to meet new people. There's a guy from my history class over there."

"Enjoy the game. We'll see you after," Peter said. He watched her cross the bleachers and sit down beside Alex, from robotics club. He smiled as soon as he saw her. Pietro clearly saw the same thing, and he snickered.

Peter leaned over to ask Shuri, "Are we any good? I've never been to a football game before."

She grinned. "Oh yeah. We're good."

Peter didn't even know what a good football team was supposed to look like as they played. He never watched sports. As the roster for each team was read off and the players ran onto the field, he tried to keep track of the numbers on the jerseys of players he knew. Half the team was upperclassmen he'd never even heard of.

Peter soon learned why he didn't often watch football. It felt like for every minute they played, they spent five minutes plus setting up for the next play or discussing a foul of some sort. Without understanding hardly any of the rules, it looked mostly like a bunch of people fighting over a brown lump of leather. He just tried to cheer whenever the other people around him did.

Sam scored the first touchdown for Stan Lee. Carol threw it almost thirty yards towards the end zone. Peter didn't think he'd reach it in time, but he put on a last-second burst of speed. The entire stands were on their feet screaming. At halftime, the score was seventeen to seven, Stan Lee. "So, what do you think?" Shuri asked him.

"I don't understand the rules," Peter admitted. "But some of the plays are kinda cool, I guess. Do you play football in Wakanda?"

"Not this kind. We play what you call soccer."

"Which do you like better?" Pietro asked her.

"Soccer."

"Me too. This game moves too slow."

"Everything's too slow for you," Steve remarked.

Pietro rolled his eyes.

The second half was about as exciting as the first. Peter found himself focusing on the brutality of the tackles the bigger guys in the middle were doing. He could've sworn he saw Ikaris and Frank break some limbs, but the other guys got right back up like it was nothing. Sam scored yet another touchdown, this one which he ran in from twenty yards away, bobbing and weaving through defenders the whole way there. The final score was twenty-seven to ten.

"Told you we were good," Shuri said.

"I never doubted it," Peter replied. He texted Happy to come pick them up. Wanda didn't find her way back to them until they were waiting on the sidewalk by the parking lot. Pietro made kissy faces at her, so she stomped on his foot.

"How's Alex?" Peter asked.

She shot him a glare, but her face softened when she realized his question was genuine and not merely teasing. "He's good."