Peter is naturally curious and sometimes oblivious, a combination that has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. It's not that he has a complete lack of respect for other people's boundaries, it's just that sometimes he just has to know. This is one of those situations where he just has to know. It starts when Taskmaster takes over the school, incapacitates Coulson and strings him up over a vat of acid in nothing but his tighty whities.

It's not until after the day is saved that Peter stops to think about it, but the scar had been pretty hard to miss. It's not like he hadn't expected an agent of Coulson's caliber to have some scars—they've all got their fair share in this line of work—but this one puts any others Peter's seen to shame. So, of course, he has to know what it's from.

"So what's that scar from?"

Peter doesn't flinch at the flat, unamused look he gets from their acting principle. He's used to them by now. He points insistently at the left side of the man's chest.

"That one. That really big one. Where'd you get it?" Peter asks.

"I heard you the first time, Parker," Phil says, looking back to the papers on his desk.

"So… spill. I mean, come on, don't tell me you've been totally badass behind our backs and you're not gonna let us know about it," Peter says.

"It's entirely none of your business," Phil says.

The man's tone makes Peter pause. "Is it something personal?"

"Yes. It is."

"Oh."

"Can I help you with something else, Parker?"

"No, uh… that's all I wanted to know about."

"Then I'll see you in detention after school."

"Wait, what?"

"You're five minutes late for algebra. Detention. Goodbye, Mr. Parker."

Peter sighs and shoulders his backpack and makes certain to slam the door on his way out.

"I don't know," Luke says with a shrug, filling his cereal bowl.

"I saw one on his back," Sam says, grabbing a handful from the box and cramming it in his mouth. "Big one."

"Uh, do I want to know how you happened to see this?" Peter asks.

"Hey, I just happened to walk in on him taking his shirt off in the locker room, you and Ava are the ones who saw him in his undies. You've got no room to talk, webhead," Sam declares.

"It's not something I chose to see," Peter tells him. "In fact, I'd like to un-see it, but there's no brain bleach handy."

"But none of us know where either of them came from," Luke points out.

"You guys have been with S.H.I.E.L.D. longer than I have," Peter tells him. "I was hoping you'd know something."

Luke shakes his head. "Sorry, man."

"He said it was personal. Got kind of grumpy when I asked him," Peter says.

"You mean grumpier than usual," Sam says as he cracks an egg in the pan on the stove top.

"Well, yeah."

"Maybe it's embarrassing or something," Luke says with a shrug. "Or maybe it was traumatizing. You guys said both scars are pretty big, right?"

"Huge. Like this big," Sam says, holding up his hands to show them.

"I think the one I saw was a little smaller than that," Peter informs them.

"It sounds as though you're describing exit and entry wounds," Danny says as he enters the kitchen, stopping at the refrigerator to grab some yogurt. He sits down at the table beside Peter and shakes some granola into his cup. "Two scars located in nearly symmetrical locations, one slightly larger than the other. It sounds like a stab wound."

"I might back you up on that if it weren't for the fact that no, no way, no how," Peter says. "First of all, what the hell would he have been stabbed with that was that big? Secondly, uh, what was that second point? Oh yeah: he'd be dead."

"It was just a suggestion," Danny says gently.

"Guys, I think we're overlooking a very real possibility with Danny's theory," Same says seriously. He looks around conspiratorially and drops his voice to a loud whisper. "What if he's a zombie?"

The other three boys groan.

"I'm serious! What if whatever caused those scars killed him and Fury used some freaky voodoo to reanimate the guy's corpse to do his bidding?" Sam asks them, frying the egg in the pan.

"Not that I'd put it past Fury, but do you even hear yourself right now?" Luke asks.

"Fine. Don't believe me. But we'll see who's laughing when the zombie apocalypse breaks out," Sam huffs.

"Ava! Hey! C'mere!" Peter calls as he sees the young woman walk by the kitchen.

Ava backtracks and stands in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Make it quick, I'm heading to MJ's to study."

"Okay, well we just wanted—… wait, since when do you and MJ study together?" Peter asks suspiciously.

"Since none-of-your-business, that's when," Ava says, turning to leave.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Do you know where Coulson got those big scars?"

Ava looks slightly less annoyed by the question and more uncomfortable. It's not exactly the response Peter had been anticipating, but it does tell him one thing: she knows something.

"Look, just leave it alone, okay?" she says, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack. "We're not supposed to know about it."

"But you do know about it," Peter declares, following her from the kitchen with the rest of the team in tow.

"Yeah. I found out about it and I promised not to say anything," Ava says, grabbing her books from the table in the hall. "It's personal. Coulson didn't even like the fact that I knew, so he's definitely not going to like it if you know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter asks, eyes narrowed.

"Your eggs are burning," Ava declares as she walks out the front door.

Sam runs screaming back to the kitchen, desperate to salvage their breakfast, with Danny and Luke running after him. Peter is left alone in the hallway, frowning at the front door. With an answer like that, he definitely has to know.

Months pass. Peter asks just about anyone he can think of, but no one will give him any answers. Fury won't tell him. Captain America won't tell him. Hawkeye won't tell him. Everyone he asks seems to have the same reaction, which is to look uncomfortable—Captain America has no business looking like a kicked puppy—and promptly tell him that it's none of his business and that he should drop it. That is, until he asks Iron Man.

"Yeah, I heard you've been asking around," Tony says, strolling through the Tower. "Didn't Phil say he didn't want you to know?"

"Why is he Phil?" Peter asks.

"We've done stuff," Tony says with a shrug.

Peter makes a face.

"Not that stuff."

"Oh, okay. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just figured, you know… with Miss Potts…"

"She'd be down for it if Steve wasn't the monogamous type. We're working on it, but Captain Spangles is a tight ass when it comes to sharing our favorite agent."

"What."

"Oops."

"This is more than I ever wanted to know about any of you."

"Welcome to 'Reveal Phil Coulson's Secrets' Night at la casa de Stark," Tony says with his arms outstretched. "He's being a stick in the mud about this anyway. It's something you kids should know. So follow me and I'll show you just how he got those scars."

Peter is feeling more uncomfortable than any one person should be by this point, but his curiosity gets the better of him. Tony leads him to a computer and digs around until he finds what looks like an encrypted video file. Tony plays it and sits back, watching Peter's expression throughout. When the video has finished playing, Tony leans back against the counter with his hands in his pockets and says,

"That's why he's 'Phil.'"

"Come in."

It's after school has let out, after the clubs have gone home and practice is over for their sports teams. Peter knew he'd find Phil still in his office, though. So he'd knocked and Phil had answered and he'd stepped inside and taken a seat. Phil doesn't seem to have a problem with the fact that Peter has been sitting in the chair in front of his desk in silence for the past five minutes.

"Could we talk?" Peter asks suddenly.

Phil looks up from the papers before him. He studies Peter briefly before glancing at his watch and, apparently reaching a conclusion, begins packing up papers and files in his briefcase.

"I have to make sure the school is cleared out and speak to Stan before I leave for the night," Phil tells him as he rises. He nods towards the door. "Let's take a walk."

Phil ushers Peter out of the office, douses the lights and locks the door behind them. Midtown High always looks creepy to Peter when it's empty and now is no exception. It's just that he feels even more out of place walking silently beside their acting principal.

"So I hear you've been asking around about the subject which I told you was personal and entirely none of your business," Phil says, opening the conversation.

Peter winces. "Uh… yeah."

"Let me guess: Stark showed you the video," Phil deduces.

"Yeah, actually. How did you know?"

"How do you think Miss Ayala found out?" Phil counters. He shakes his head. "I'd have preferred if you hadn't found out about it, but it can't be helped now. While your teammate kept her promise to remain silent on the matter, I know I won't be getting any such promise from you."

"No. No, if you don't want me to tell, I won't," Peter says insistently.

Phil looks to the teen with obvious curiosity.

"I didn't really understand what I was looking for. And now that I know where those scars came from, I can understand why you don't want to talk about it," Peter says slowly, staring at his feet as they walk. "But I mean, you never talk about yourself or anything."

"I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Parker, I'm not supposed to talk about myself," Phil says, looking amused by the implication. "And since when do you want to know anything about me?"

"I'm just saying, none of us know anything about you. You're a total mystery," Peter says. "You're supposed to be part of our team and I didn't even know you were hooking up with Captain Am—… mmmm… oh… I wasn't supposed to say that."

Peter swallows thickly as Phil's expression turns sour.

"I just got Tony in a lot of trouble, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"Shit."

Peter fidgets uncomfortably while they walk, knowing this situation isn't going to be pretty. They stop at the front doors to the school and Peter does everything he can to avoid eye contact.

"So, I guess what I originally came here to say is that… I'm sorry I snooped. I shouldn't have," Peter says, blowing out a harsh breath. "Are you, y'know, okay and everything?"

Phil sighs heavily. "Have I ever given you any inclination that I wasn't alright?"

"No, but you can be a little hard to read," Peter tells him. "Seriously. Is 'agent' just your personality or something?"

"Yes," Phil answers with a straight face.

"Yeah, okay," Peter sighs. Of course, not like he expected anything else. "Do you think I could ask you something though? Because there's one thing about this that's not clear to me. And if you don't want to answer it, I promise this time I won't try to find out on my own."

"Alright," Phil answers reluctantly.

"Tony showed me the security footage. I saw Loki stab you and I saw Fury get to you and I watched you…"

Peter makes a vague, uncomfortable hand motion. It feels too strange, too out of place to say that he'd watched Phil die. He had, though, and remembering it still makes him feel a little… disturbed. Especially when the man is standing right in front of him.

"And anyway… How did you live?" Peter asks.

"With no little thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. medical, a transfusion of Captain Rogers' blood and a recovery period long enough to be considered nearly unbearable," Phil recites cleanly. He looks at Peter and after a moment takes a slow, deep breath, and when he lets it out, Peter sees his shoulders drop just a fraction. "You say you don't know anything about me. My name is Phillip James Coulson. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 8th, 1964, my friends called me PJ and I routinely had my ass handed to me because I picked fights with bullies twice my size."

Peter blinks dumbly. He'd learned more about the man in the span of five seconds than he had in the entirety of their association.

"About a year and half ago, I got lucky. I died a total of four times thanks to the stunt I pulled and not a day goes by that I'm not amazed to be standing here. I hurt people in the process and I find that some of those relationships still aren't fully healed," Phil explains. "The reason I preferred to keep it quiet is because it's something that's painful for me to have to look back on, made more painful by the fact that most people seem to consider it brave or heroic."

"But it was," Peter responds with raised eyebrows.

"No. It wasn't. It was foolish and desperate and even though I'd do it again in a heartbeat, there were so many ramifications that I never saw coming," Phil corrects him. "I did what I had to because it was the only option I had left. Don't think of it as being anything more than me doing my job and certainly don't ever let me catch you doing anything that stupid. I mean it, Parker."

Peter opens his mouth to respond, but closes it just as quickly. He thinks the agent is downplaying his actions or not giving himself enough credit, but really, maybe Phil doesn't find it heroic for the simple fact that he doesn't want to be a hero. And maybe doing things which hurt the people closest to you make you feel more like a jerk than anything else, regardless of your intention. Maybe Phil just wants to be Agent Coulson and just Agent Coulson, not the guy whose death united the Avengers.

"Okay," he says instead. "I think I get it, now."

Phil gives him an appraising look, but must be satisfied with what he finds because he just nods and looks out the front door.

"You should be getting home. It'll be dark soon," Phil notes.

"Yeah. Because I really have to worry about walking home in the dark," Peter snorts.

Phil gives him a stern look. "You might not have to worry, but I'm sure your aunt will."

"Right," Peter says with a wince.

"Let me talk to Stan and I'll give you a ride home," Phil decides. "We'll tell her I held you after to talk about your science fair project and lost track of time."

"Thanks," Peter says, trailing behind him. "Well, since we had a bonding moment… can I call you PJ?"

"Don't push it, Parker."

"So 'no' then."

"You're two seconds from walking home."

"Hey, you're the one Aunt May'll be angry with. I'm fine with walking home."

"Parker."

Sometimes, Peter reflects as he dodges a slap to the head, it's best to let secrets remain secret. And sometimes you'll find that the most extraordinary people often come in the most ordinary packages.