AN: Hello! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! I am so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out... I was traveling out of the country for school, and now I will be attending graduate school full-time starting next week, so chapters should be more consistent... consistently spaced longer apart. To make up for longer spaces of time, I will do my best to make them longer chapters. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks!

Aqua kept a quick pace as she moved to the kitchen, intent on grabbing an ice pack or two for Peter. They had been "sparring" for almost two hours and she could tell Peter wasn't used to this level of combat training. She remembered her first few days training with Nat and Steve; they were hard and tiring, but she kept up. And she had to admit, for continuously going at it for almost two hours, she was impressed he kept up as well as he did.

She reached the freezer quickly, pulled out some ice packs, and met Peter just before he could sit down. He smiled slightly and placed one pack on his right side and the other on left shoulder blade, basically giving himself a hug. He took a seat at the kitchen island and glanced at the clock; 8:30pm. He was starving.

Aqua noticed his glance and chuckled. "You hungry?" He quickly looked up at her, confused as to how she read his mind. Tony smirked and gave Peter a painful pat on the back, earning a grimace and small moan from the bruised boy.

"You'll get used to it," Tony smiled, confusing the boy even more. Peter just gave a confused but surprised look; upon seeing it, Aqua and Tony laughed and high-fived.

"No, I cannot read minds. I could simply hear your stomach." Tony laughed a little louder at the truth in Aqua's voice.

"Whatcha makin?" Tony was a bit hungry too, the long day finally getting to him.

"Ooh, is Aqua cooking?!" Bruce excitedly hollers from the lab, just starting to leave his desk as he hurries to the kitchen.

"Wait, Aqua, are you really making something?" Wanda asks as she appears from the stairs.

"I could go for some of Aqua's cookin." Rhodes states as he walks in, tired from the mission he just got back from. Peter glanced around, amazed by how everyone just appeared from the woodworks. And all at the mention of Aqua's food. She seemed completely unfazed by everyone's interest and searched the fridge. Peter couldn't help but notice how close everyone seemed and felt thankful to be around such a group.

"Well, we've got some think flank steak. I throw together some carne asada and do some kind of burrito bar. Or we've got some stuff to make a fettuccine alfredo with some chicken." She pulls both meats from the fridge and holds them out, "your choice." A slew of suggestions and decisions came bounding from everyone in the room; everyone except for Peter. Aqua whistled and held up her full hands.

"I wasn't asking any of you. I was asking him," she motions towards Peter. "It's his first time here for dinner, so he should get to decide." Peter looked up, confused. He hadn't really been listening. "So, which is it? Steak burritos or fettuccine alfredo?" Peter pondered for a moment. He had no clue which one would be better, he had never had Aqua's cooking before.

"Umm… how about the burrito bar?" He shrugged. Tony, Wanda, and Nat threw a thumbs-up his way while Bruce and Rhodes gave a sad smile and shrugged it off.

"Cool. Now, everyone, on that side of the island or further. I'll call when it's ready." Aqua said as she shoo'd them away from her work space. She loved cooking and would pride herself in her skills. Everyone went their own ways; Bruce and Tony back to the lab, Rhodes in the direction of his room, Nat and Wanda over to the couch to flip on the TV, and Peter just sat quietly at the island. Aqua washed her hands, and pulled out a pot to start cooking rice and then moved to the cast iron to get the meat started. She glanced over at the quiet Peter, just holding himself in a hug with the ice packs, then back down to the sizzling food on the stove.

I went too far.

She grimaced. Her thoughts beginning to take over while her hands went on auto-pilot to cook their dinner.

Once again, I went too far. He's not even really one of us. I should've stopped earlier. I always –

"So, what's your story?" Aqua snapped back to attention, surprised by Peter's voice.

"What do you mean?" She shook her head just slightly, clearing some of her earlier thoughts. Her hands and feet kept moving on auto-pilot to keep the food cooking at a good pace.

"What brought you to the Avengers? Do you live here full-time? Why or why not? How long have you known – "

"Well, to say what brought me to the Avengers would have me reveal my past, not something that should be told lightly," she mentioned, knowingly cutting off his questions, keeping her back to him while she held a sad smile on her face, "so, I'll jump to your second question. Yes, I live here full-time. That's why my rooms were built with the pool room attached. I first met Tony a little over five years ago, back before the Avengers ever existed, and I moved into Stark Tower a few months later. I've lived in the shadows of the Avengers ever since." She turned around to lean on the on the counter next to the stove, simply waiting for the rice to finish before taking things off the stove.

"That smells amazing," he gestured to the stove.

Aqua smiled and shrugged slightly. "Thanks. You actually chose the easiest of the two dishes. Once the rice is finished, I'll just do a quick stir in the skillet with some light seasoning and we're good to go. How are the ice packs?"

"Getting warm." Aqua quickly nodded her head upwards and held out her hand while moving toward the freezer. Peter tossed both packs, but his throw was a little off. It didn't matter, Aqua guided the water attached to the packs, and thus the packs themselves, to her hand and tossed them into the freezer. "Want another?"

"Neh. I think I'll be good." Peter rotated his shoulder and stretched his side. "What exactly is your talent?"

Aqua moved back to her position at the counter.

"Water."

Peter stared at her, slightly confused. "What about water?"

"I can control it. Down to the molecule." She moved her hand in front of him, pulling at the air and creating a little ball of water. "I can pull moisture in the atmosphere to form the liquid state, then I can move it," she moved the water around the two of them, bringing it back to hover over her hand, "or freeze it," the ball froze, still hovering, "or return it to the gaseous form," the ball began to steam, dissipating back into the air.

Peter stared in amazement, "the molecule? How is that even possible?"

"I don't even know that answer and it's my ability. All I know is that I have this, almost, sixth sense for water molecules. As long as there is a small bit of moisture in the air, I can sense a person's physical features and whether they're moving and in which direction. It's handy, but confusing."

"Confusing?"

"Well, yeah. I have this ability that I can't explain whatsoever. Sure, I've checked out the mutations in my genes compared to a normal human's, but they don't seem to explain how I basically defy the laws of physics." Peter raised his eyebrows in realization and agreeance while shrugging slightly. He was clearly trying to think it through, but judging by his squinting face, he was struggling for the answer as well.

"That's not all I can do."

"Oh yeah, when you got out of the pool earlier. Wouldn't that be considered moving any molecule attached to you to a gaseous state?"

"Technically, yes. But that's not what I was going to tell you about," she turned around to check the rice. It was nearly ready, but could go few a more minutes. Peter waited on bated breath, curious about what Aqua was about to tell him. She turned back around and chuckled at the sight of Peter nearly lying on the island-bar counter. "Water enhances my hearing. When I'm underwater, I can hear nearly everything happening in this facility."

Peter's eyes shown with intrigue. "Everything?"

She motioned for him to calm down, "almost everything. Some of the furthest parts can be a bit faint, but with some decent concentration, I can figure it out."

"But to listen to an entire conversation, you'd have to be underwater for a pretty long time." He paused. Aqua encouraged the moment of thought, willing him to figure it out. "Wait – you can't breathe underwater, can you?!"

Well, exaggeration is better than underestimation.

Aqua chuckled and shrugged. "Not quite 'breathe', but I can circulate the oxygen within the water and use it for myself." Peter gasped and nearly jumped out of his seat. "But only in natural water. None of that chlorine crap that everyone puts in their pools. There's too much chemicals in the water for me to be able to circulate the oxygen for myself."

Peter stared at Aqua, clearly trying to find an explanation for her abilities.

Good luck.

Aqua checked the rice again, seeing it was just about ready, and grabbed the skillet to fry it.

"Enough about me. What about you?"

"I'm a bit more explainable. I have enhanced senses and strength due to being bitten by a radioactive spider. I then designed an outfit to help a bit with aerodynamics and identity protection and created the compound that is now my webbing."

Aqua turned on her heel. "A radioactive spider? That's more explainable than mutated genes allowing me to control water?"

"Say that sentence one more time and then think about how I have a singularity that caused my abilities."

He's not wrong. To this day I don't how or why I have my power. I don't even know for sure if my parents had powers.

She shrugged and turned back to the food finishing on the stove. She gave some big stirs to the rice as well as the other food on the stove.

"It's a pretty nice family you've got here."

Aqua snapped straight.

"This isn't exactly a family," her head sagged a little. "Well, they are. Not me."

Peter watched her quietly finish the warming food on the stove and chopping the vegetables.

"Friday, send a notification to the others that dinner is ready."

"Sure thing, Aqua."

They were silent as Aqua moved bowls and pans to the island counter, creating the taco bar Peter had chosen. Nat, Wanda, Rhodes, Bruce, and Tony arrived not too long after the notification had been sent, ready to dig in. Peter reached for her hand, quietly saying "I don't think that's true," and motioned to the others, who rummaged around each other and all sat around the table, saving places for Aqua and Peter.