It only took one afternoon for Team Quest to think of a comeback, and it was twice as sophisticated as the chalk and took even greater skill than the pink hair dye in Tony's shampoo. The plan was set, the charts were drawn, and the order for an industrial sized bucket of superglue placed with distinct orders for next-day delivery.

Peri was on look-out duty with J.A.R.V.I.S. The AI would inform Jules and Peri through earpieces of Clint and Tony's locations and if either got too close to Jules and Loki while they carried in the glue, Peri would be deployed to distract them. Luckily, Natasha, Steve, and Bruce had the sense to merely stay out of the way. It was obvious that the two prank teams were going to go on no matter what hindrances came upon them so there was no point intervening. Thor, however, was a problem.

He would have been cute if he weren't annoying. He was just so happy to be around his brother all the time. He always wanted to be near him and hang out and be all buddy-buddy like they used to be but that was the last thing on Loki's mind.

Jules poked her head out of the elevator and quickly scanned the room with her eyes. She jerked her head at Loki to signal all-clear. Together, they bent down and held tight to the bottom of the crate and grunted as they lifted it.

"I don't understand," Loki whispered, "why you're using the earpieces if you're just going to check each room before we walk in!"

"Shh!" Jules hissed at Loki. She whispered at him furiously. "This is a secret mission, Loki, we need to be as quiet as poss-"

"MY FRIENDS!" Thor's booming voice came from seemingly nowhere, startling Jules and making her drop her side of the crate. The crate landed on Loki's foot. He sucked in a breath and groaned.

"Sorry," Jules said, wincing. Loki merely glared at her. Thor had come up behind him by this time and seen the damage. He frowned and placed a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"Would like my help, brother?" he asked. Jules took the opportunity to check him out. She may have been too proud to accept his help, but she wasn't too proud to appreciate his body. Today he was decked out in a flannel shirt and jeans. He looked vaguely like a scruffy lumberjack, but somehow, he still looked hot.

Loki gave him a grimace and almost gave a sassy retort, but Jules beat him to the punch.

"We don't need any help, Thor. You can leave now," she made a 'shoo' gesture and turned back to the box. "Ready?"

Loki nodded, and as they reached for the bottom again, Thor came up behind Jules.

"Are you sure, Lady Ju-" Jules gasped and dropped her side again. Again, the box fell on Loki's foot and made him groan.

"Thor," she said viciously, "leave."

And miraculously, he did.

Loki and Jules arrived on the top floor where Clint's room was huffing and puffing.

"The delivery people didn't give you guys one of those wheelie thingies? You know, to roll the crate around?" Peri inquired.

"I'm fairly sure they're called 'dollies,'" Jules wheezed.

"Can we please just get this over with?" Loki cut in, "I never want to see this box again!"

"We're gonna have to get rid of it, you know," Peri stated. Loki rolled his eyes and lay limp against it.

"Out of all the mortals in the world, how did I manage to get stuck with you two?" he whimpered.

"Shut up and get the box in," Peri held the door open for them to pass.

"Idiot," Loki hissed.

"Moron," Peri countered.

"Will you two cut it out?!" Jules whisper-screamed.

"Sorry," they apologized in unison, Peri sounding as though she truly didn't mean it and Loki mumbling as if he were being forced to cooperate. They then proceeded to make faces at each other when Jules' back was turned.

At about five o'clock the next morning, Clint got up to do his morning exercise routine, which consisted of going to the training room and firing arrows until the call for breakfast came. He yawned wide and stretched before picking up his quiver. It was heavier than usual, but in his sleep-deprived haze, Clint hardly noticed. He tried to blink the sleep from his eyes as he exited the elevator and entered the armoury. He did a few stretches, and then reached for an arrow. He grabbed hold of one and smiled at the feel of it in his hand. Its familiar weight and thin shaft felt like home.

He tugged gently, expecting the arrow to come without a fight. He frowned when it didn't move.

He tugged again. Nothing.

He tugged again. Still nothing.

The slight flutter of panic began to stir in his abdomen as he pulled the quiver off his back, hoping against hope that the arrow was merely jammed in too tightly with the others.

It wasn't. It had been glued to the bottom of the quiver, along with the rest of the arrows.

Clint pulled, tugged, and yanked as hard as he could on the arrows and not a single one would budge. He was hyperventilating by now, and in his blind terror, the only thing he could think to do was scream.

Peri and Jules awoke with a fright, half under the impression they were being attacked. Nearly synchronized, they reached under their respective pillows and both revealed the knives they kept safely tucked underneath. They swiftly calmed enough to see their room was empty other than them. Jules let out a breath, and Peri moaned as she sunk back under her covers, heaving them over her head.

"I don't know who's screaming, but they need to learn to keep it down," she lamented.

"I think it's Clint," Jules rubbed her eyes. "He probably found out what we did."

"Well then remind me to watch my back as I walk down the hall for breakfast."

"But what if Bruce comes around with a bunch of flowers for you?" Jules teased playfully, and a light pink tinge spread across Peri's freckled face, not that Jules could see.

"Shut up, you insipid crocodile."

"I'm a crocodile now?"

"Just shut up!"

"Clint, breathe!"

"WHO WOULD DO SUCH A TERRIBLE THING TO ME, NAT?"

"I said 'breathe!'"

Clint was curled into the foetal position, cradling his quiver close to him like a broken child. He did as Natasha told him, and took deep breaths until he could speak calmly (though his eye twitched a bit).

"Why me?" he pouted. Natasha would have rolled her eyes if it hadn't been so important to him. She patted his shoulder awkwardly.

"It probably has something to do with the stupid prank you pulled the other day, Clint." Clint's eyes widened as it dawned on him who exactly had committed such a perversion. He stood so quickly he knocked Natasha to the ground. Natasha called after him, trying to find out what he was going to do, but he was muttering to himself under his breath and either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her.

"I'll show them… Mess with my arrows… Little brats… I'll show them… Need paper…"

Bruce came down from breakfast with a cup of his favourite camomile tea in hand, prepared to spend a few hours working on a little project he and Tony had been collaborating on. It was a series of suits for Natasha, Jules, Peri, and Steve. Tony had noticed they really didn't have great body armour, so these suits were meant to protect them better in combat while still being as lightweight and flexible as their old uniforms.

"I don't know why he can't just ask Reed Richards for help… No doubt he'd be able to do this a lot easier than I can," Bruce muttered. He went to sit at his usual spot, and noticed a scrap of paper in his seat. His name was written on it in a lurid shade of pink. He picked it up and turned it over, hoping to see the name of the person who sent it. The other side was blank. He opened it to look for a signature.

The letter itself was written in plain black ink, but it was signed in the same repulsive pink his name was sketched in. The pink spelled out the last name he expected: Peri. She had dotted the 'I' with a heart. He grew confused.

"Didn't think she liked pink…" he said as he began to read. It started out fine, just like a normal letter, but as it progressed Bruce found his face growing more and more red.

It was a love letter.

He folded the love letter and put it in his pocket, his blush highlighting his features. He really wished she hadn't sent him that letter. He understood teenage hormones and the chemistry behind them, but he didn't understand how Peri had grown attached to him. He sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. There was only one thing to do. Bruce would have to break her heart.

Just as this thought entered his mind, the door opened behind him, startling him briefly. The scientist turned around to see Tony walking in, holding a rather thick file in one hand and wearing an unusually serious expression.

"We need to talk about Peri," he said without preamble.

Oh, crap, Bruce thought.

"Look, Tony, I-"

"Did you know she's seen at least twenty different doctors in the past two years alone?"

"Really don't think- wait, what?"

Tony nodded and sat down in the chair opposite Bruce.

"Twenty-two, to be exact. All of them neurologists, with a similar patient history."

Bruce was beginning to get a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had an idea as to where this conversation was going, and he did not want it to take that direction.

"What kind of history?" he asked slowly, dreading the answer.

"See for yourself," Tony responded, dropping the heavy file on the table in front of Bruce. Bruce grabbed the folder with slightly trembling fingers, hoping against hope that it didn't contain what he thought it did.

He opened it and his heart dropped into his abdomen. He went through page after page, each one detailing the extent of Peri's condition and the treatments she had been given. The very last page contained the current address of the doctor currently tending to the adolescent. And, of course, he was on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s payroll. He sighed again as he closed the folder.

"You'd think this was information S.H.I.E.L.D. would have told us…"

Tony nodded his agreement.

"True, but keep in mind…" he started, making Bruce look up at him quizzically.

"The kids didn't tell us either."

Peri really hadn't expected to make it to lunch without some sort of redemption, but when she went to make herself some food around noon and hadn't yet received the wrath of Barton, she let her guard down. Bruce was sitting at the counter with his usual cup of tea in front of him. Peri felt herself begin to blush, but she quickly cut off the blush by summoning a mental picture of her abysmal math scores.

"Hey Bruce," she smiled at him. She went into the fridge to find something edible and he didn't look up from the ominously thick file in front of him while he answered.

"Hello, Peri."

Peri rummaged around the fridge for a bit and remained silent. Bruce made no attempt at conversation, though he watched her worriedly. He wondered why she wasn't saying anything about the letter, then he figured she was probably waiting for him to say something first. She muttered a quiet 'aha!' when she found the peanut butter. She put it down and closed the fridge to get the bread from the cabinet. She hummed something while she worked, and while Bruce felt he knew the song, he couldn't name it.

"What are you humming?" he asked, thinking that it was a good way to start the conversation. Peri stiffened, obviously embarrassed for some reason.

"Um… S&M… by um… Well, I'm sure you know."

"Oh." It hadn't been the response Bruce was expecting, and now he felt a bit awkward. But he had to keep the small talk going. He struggled to think of something to say, but Peri beat him to the punch.

"What'cha reading?" she asked.

"Um…" Bruce looked down at the file in his hands. It was the same one Tony had given him earlier. "It's nothing," he said, closing it and hiding it in his lap hurriedly. Peri cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the counter behind her. She studied Bruce for a moment, her eyes shining dangerously.

"What are you hiding-"

"Is there something you want to tell me, Periwinkle?" Bruce cut her off, deciding that small talk wasn't working and he seriously didn't want her to find out what the file contained.

"No," she said immediately, "don't change the subject. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

"Then why was my name on the cover?"

…Never play coy with a super-spy… he thought. He slowly placed the file back on the counter where she could see it.

"It's… your medical history…"

Peri stood quickly and her hands went to sides, her hands balled into fists. She stared at it, and then looked up at Bruce with an alarming amount of anger in her eyes. The rest of her face remained blank and her voice was calm when she spoke, but she was having a hard time keeping herself from trembling.

"Where did you get that?"

Bruce breathed deeply, preparing himself mentally for the shouting she was inevitably coming to.

"Tony."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No."

"Do you know if he has?"

"Maybe Steve."

"Give me the file."

She held out her hand, glaring at Bruce as if she were trying to set his face alight. He looked at her for a second, and slowly pushed it towards her. She snatched it away and started skimming through the pages at random. She closed with a violent gesture and tucked it under her arm as she headed to the kitchen exit.

"Wait, Peri!" Bruce called. Peri stopped dead in her tracks but didn't turn around. He wanted to say something to make her a little less angry, but the first words out of his mouth were: "About that letter-"

"What letter?" she snapped.

"The love letter."

"What love letter?"

"The one you wrote me."

She whipped around, her feet still pointing to the exit but her torso inclining to Bruce. There was confusion as well as anger now in her face, but Bruce ignored it.

"Listen, I can't, I mean, we can't" Bruce took a deep breath as her eyebrow cocked again. "I can't be your boyfriend. For one thing, there's the… Other guy, and for another, I just don't think I'm capable of thinking of you in a romantic light. I don't mean to offend you, I swear-"

"Bruce," she whispered. It was enough to cut him off.

"I didn't write you any love letters."

"Oh," Bruce felt a small weight he hadn't realized he was carrying come of his shoulders. "Good. I mean, not good, but also good, I mean, um-"

But she had already left the kitchen.

Obviously, I don't own any of the characters in this story except for Peri and Jules... Well… Okay, I only own Peri. I don't own anything I make a reference to in any chapter. Also I started writing this before I saw Thor 2 so this story DOES NOT follow the Thor 2 timeline AT ALL. But hey, moving on. I'm not a professional writer, but I'd very much like to be a novelist one day. If you could kindly give me some tips and pointers on how to improve, I'd be much obliged. Have a great day, and thank you for taking the time out of your life to read my manuscript!