"Gone, but not forgotten," Betty Brandt's voice came through the televised morning announcements, after a particularly badly edited memoriam had played- to Celine Dion no less- of the Avengers who had passed in the fight against Thanos.
"Thanks to Kenith Lim and Vihaan Ramermerthy for their help on that video." Jason fistbumped the air, setting out a foghorn noise. Katya barely registered it, just kept her face buried in her locker, trying to focus on the color of the textbooks inside rather than the screens that seemed to surround her. Betty Brandt spoke up next.
"This year has been nothing short of-"
"This shit's insane ."
"Jason-!" She chided, "No swearing!"
Jason leaned back in his chair, "What, it's like the last day of school."
Betty shook her head at him but continued. "Historic. Over five years ago, half of all life in the universe - including our own Midtown High- was wiped from existence." This played over footage of a basketball game being interrupted only to restart as people began to rematerialize, disoriented, the marching band falling to pieces. "But then, eight months ago, a band of brave heroes brought us back."
Katya slammed her locker closed, a little harder than she'd intended to, and accidentally left a dent just below the lock itself, making it so that she couldn't fit the actual padlock through the hole. Fuck it, what were they going to steal, her science textbooks?
"They called it, 'the Blip". Those of us who Blipped away came back the same age, but our classmates who didn't blip had grown five years older."
There were example pictures, but Katya wasn't paying attention. Her head was too full, and tired, and tired of being full and tired. She was excited for the school year to be over, but only so that she could spend more time with Peter and Ned. Plus, the class trip was coming up, and they'd already saved the universe- Katya was having a hard time coming up with anything that they could encounter that summer that would match that. She tightened her grip on her art portfolio- the class she was going to next- as Jason and Betty kept talking.
"Like, are the Avengers even a thing anymore? Does anybody have a plan?"
— — —-
When she got to the classroom, Peter and Ned were already discussing something in harsh whispers, Peter clearly excited about something. She offered a smile in their direction, but they didn't seem to notice her come in, so she beelined it to their table.
"Hey guys." She tried her best to compartmentalize her frustration and keep it out of her voice, but even she could hear it bleed through a little. The boys didn't seem to notice. She tried again. "Excited about the science trip?"
"Yeah, we were just talking about that-" Peter started,
"-And Peter's plan." Ned finished.
Plan? They hadn't gone over any sort of plan- there hadn't been any new threats since the serial Porch Vandalizer they'd stopped last week, and all that'd taken was a stern voice and confiscating his spray paint. He couldn't have been older than them, and looked scared out of his mind when Katya'd so much as pushed him against the wall. She dropped her portfolio on the table between them and leaned in. "What kind of plan?"
Peter looked lost as to what to say for the moment so Ned filled in for him. "He's just going to collect tiny spoons as we travel to other countries."
What the hell? "...Why?"
"Like a grandmother." Ned added. Peter smacked him in the arm.
"No, not like a grandmother- I'm, erm, just gonna bring some stuff back for Aunt May."
"Oh, that's sweet, then, I guess. But why spoons?" Katya raised an eyebrow, her eyes trailed on his, which were glaring holes in Ned's head. She wanted to reach over and grab his hand, but he was fidgeting with a pen between them. Something told Katya that was not at all what they had been talking about. "But what's the real plan?"
"I- I don't have a plan, there is no plan-" Peter babbled. He was being weird. Why was he being weird?
Katya gave him a deathly serious look, hopefully reminding him of how quickly she could take him to the ground. "Are you sure?"
Peter seemed almost taken aback for a minute before he stopped playing with the pen and grabbed one of her hands, staring back just as seriously. "I'm sure."
Katya shifted a bit in her seat- she knew she'd been on edge since the whole thing had ended, but, as Jason had put it well that morning, are the Avengers even a thing anymore? In the past eight months, there hadn't been much movement in the compound, which was now almost entirely rebuilt and now just held her, Happy, and Rhodey, whom she was getting closer to, even though they didn't cross paths often. Everything with Thanos was behind them, so all she had to focus on was school, Patrol with Peter, and they still occasionally trained, but even so the acute sense of danger still wouldn't leave her stomach every time she thought about it too long. "Should I bring my suit?"
"What?!" Why did Peter sound so nervous? "Oh, no, I'm not bringing mine-"
"But remember what happened last time?" Of course he remembered, it was a rhetorical question. They were ambushed by a Black Widow and without any tools and Katya had nearly gotten herself killed, though it could have just as easily been him had she not shoved him out of the way. Peter gripped her hand with both of his.
"Katya, I swear, it's nothing like that. Thanos is over and- everything is over. We're just going on vacation."
Katya gave him a wary stare but tried her best to relax.
"Besides," Peter elbowed Ned in the ribs, who flinched. "We've got our Guy In The Chair. We'll be fine."
She squeezed his hands with her own, more for her own reassurance than his, she realized. "If you say so."