"Screwdriver."

"Here."

"Drill."

"Yup." Peter passed over the drill and Tony grabbed it from him. He used it for a moment before placing it next to him. He grabbed the screwdriver again, then used the drill and then programmed something on the minicomputer.

Peter had woken up a few hours before and Tony immediately went and got him to come to the lab. It was surprising, honestly. Tony was a good mentor, but he'd never prioritized Peter so openly before. Peter thought he'd be hanging around the living room for a bit longer before Tony collected him.

But now, here they were in the lab, together, working on Peter's suit. Tony had been absolutely determined to fix the communication devices. If they didn't work on the moon, they weren't going to be good enough for him. Peter knew his mentor never wanted him to be in a position where he couldn't communicate with him again. After the communication lines were reinstated and strengthened, he and Tony went to town on adding new features and he even got Tony to remove a few parental controls.

"Alright." Tony put down a hammer and shut the minicomputer. "Looks like we're all set here. I'm gonna send this over to testing just to be safe, but you should have it back tomorrow."

"For training?" Peter asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes. Tony regarded him for a moment before slowly nodding. The idea of Peter taking and throwing punches again made the man hesitate, but he knew he wouldn't keep him from the action for long. And, it would be better if he were more prepared.

"Yeah, we'll do some training tomorrow," Tony confirmed, pushing himself away from the table to stretch. "You did good work today, kid. I better be careful or you might be able to make these mods yourself."

"Nah," Peter shook his head with a bashful smile. "I'm still just learning. Ned, though, he can do some pretty cool shit." Tony gave him a look and Peter immediately corrected himself. "Stuff. Hey. You know, it's not fair that all the other Avengers get to swear."

"You must be this tall to use that kind of language," Tony said, sticking his hand out level to his shoulders. Peter jumped off his stool.

"I am that tall!"

"This tall, then," Tony corrected and moved his hand up to his forehead. "And be out of high school."

"So two more years?"

"We'll talk." Tony slid from his stool and he and Peter started packing up the lab. They worked in comfortable silence until Tony had one of his many robot contraptions take the suit away.

"You think Nat will be back to normal soon?" Peter asked a little hesitantly. Tony hadn't been forthcoming with information about their teammate and Peter wasn't sure if he really didn't know much or if he was once again trying to protect him.

"Haven't heard anything, kid," Tony told him, sparing a quick glance to the boy. "I can't imagine she'll bounce back too quick. Her healing factor isn't as robust as yours and her injuries were much more serious. But she'll be back to normal soon. The woman basically subsists off of spite." That made Peter laugh and Tony came over to place a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about all of this. You're safe. That's enough, right?"

"Well, there is still that whole exploding base," Peter replied, looking towards his feet. "I mean, are we ever going to catch the person behind that? Or arrest Alice? I mean, people died, Mister Stark. There has to be some justice."

Tony kept his hand firmly planted on Peter's shoulder as they exited the lab. "Kid, we do everything we can to bring some justice to this world, but sometimes it ain't enough. We're going to do everything we can to find the people who did this to you, but it just might not be enough."

"'Did this to me?'" Peter asked, raising a critical eyebrow at Tony. "I'm not one of the people dead ten thousand feet underground in Siberia. Mister Stark, I know you want to keep me safe and I really appreciate that, but we should be finding the people responsible to avenge the people who died. Not to get payback for a few bruised ribs."

The paid had walked from the lab towards the kitchen and Tony stopped just outside the doorway. He regarded his mentee for a moment. He felt he was no longer looking at the bright-eyed, naive kid who started working as a superhero a year before. Now, he seemed much older and his sense of right and wrong had sharpened. Peter was also not afraid to voice his real opinion anymore. As much as he wanted to please Tony, he also wanted some say in these matters. Although Tony was proud that Peter had grown so much, it also meant he was losing a little bit of control.

"Fine," Tony relented, much to Peter's surprise. "We'll do everything we can to find the people responsible for the murder of those SHIELD Agents. But I also want to beat the shit out of that guy who knocked you around the forest back there."

Peter grinned. "What happened to the whole language thing?" he asked.

Tony stuck his hand out so it was level with his own head and just an inch above Peter's. "This tall, kid. This tall."

Peter laughed and followed Tony into the spacious kitchen. "Alright, what do you want for dinner, kid? Chinese? Thai? Mexican? Pizza?"

"You cook?" Peter asked. "How much changed while I was out of the country?"

"Nothing, I was going to have FRIDAY order it. FRIDAY?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What do you want?"

Peter hesitated for just a moment, startled by being put on the spot. "Uh… uh. Pizza."

"Original," Tony replied with a roll of his eyes, but a kind smile. "FRIDAY order some pizza for us."

"For just the two of you or the whole compound?" The AI asked.

Tony sighed. "Just get enough for everyone who's here. If Bruce is around and finds out we didn't get pizza for him, he might go all Hulk on us."

"That'd be pretty cool," Peter chimed in as he leaned against one of the fancy marble counters.

"Go get washed up for dinner," Tony told him, pointedly ignoring the comment. "FRIDAY will help you find your room."

"My room!" Peter asked with a wide smile.

"Your guest room," Tony corrected and couldn't help but chuckle as Peter's face dramatically fell. "When you convince Aunt Hottie to let you drop out and move in with a bunch of superheroes upstate, I'll get you a room."

Peter grumbled good-naturedly and followed the tiny lights FRIDAY lit up to form a path to the bedrooms. He wasn't particularly saddened by the realization he didn't have his own room in the compound, but he couldn't help but think how cool it would be to have a spare room in the same place the Avengers lived! He couldn't wait to graduate high school. Tony would even let him swear.

He was so focused on all the colorful four-letter words he could use in his tricked out Avengers bedroom that he didn't notice someone else turning down the hall. Peter suddenly collided with a hard mass and jumped back, catching himself against the wall to avoid falling.

"I'm so sorry," Peter quickly said, worried about what Avenger he'd managed to crash into. But when he looked up into familiar green eyes, he couldn't stop the gasp that escaped his lips.

Natasha stood before him looking somewhat startled and somewhat amused, but otherwise as unreadable as ever. She didn't look as though she had spent the past day in intensive care, or like she had ever had metal sticking out of her stomach. In fact, she looked very well rested and perfectly normal.

"Nat," Peter managed to choke out. "Uh, Natasha. Miss Widow." He shook his head violently and immediately apologized, "Sorry. I just, uh. You're alive. And… walking."

"Yes," Natasha replied, her expression becoming more amused than anything else. That put Peter at ease. "I'm definitely alive and so are you."

"But how-" Peter started, but Natasha cut him off.

"You did a great job back in Siberia. Your quick thinking helped us get out of there in one piece." Peter smiled at Natasha's praise. He was so caught off guard that all of his other questions about her health and wellbeing dissolved from his memory.

"Thanks so much. I mean, it was kinda crazy and all, I mean I'm sure all that stuff wasn't supposed to happen, but then it did and it got so crazy and you got… Are you sure you're okay?" Peter couldn't help but ask her that again. His mind was racing and words were spilling out and he was afraid she would walk away without answering any of his most pressing questions.

"I'm just fine, Peter, why wouldn't I be?" Natasha asked innocently as if she hadn't been fighting for her life just mere hours before.

"I don't even know how to answer that," Peter replied. "I mean, Nat, you had metal sticking out of your stomach. You were in surgery for hours."

"It wasn't as big a deal as it looked," she told him in a calm voice. "And I heal quickly. Most of us around here do." Of course, Peter knew that. His own healing factor had helped immensely over the past two days. However, he couldn't imagine it would have him up and walking around as if nothing was wrong just a day after being impaled.

"It didn't hit anything important," Natasha added when she realized he was not quite believing her. "And Banner is a fantastic doctor. Best in the world. Don't worry about it, kid. What's important is that you and I are both here and are just fine."

Peter couldn't argue with that. "And bring whoever did this to justice," he said with a wider smile. Natasha matched it with a frown.

"You want to go back there?" she asked.

"Not necessarily," Peter replied. "But we have to find Alice and whoever she was working with. And we have to get justice for all the people who died."

A strange look crossed Natasha's face and Peter wondered why she wasn't immediately agreeing with him. Jumping back into danger for the sake of what's right was Natasha's whole thing. Surely she wanted to go back to find the people responsible as well. Then again, she was still recovering, even if she was recovering quickly. And Tony always said that the body might heal fast, but there's no healing factor for the mind. Maybe she was not in the right mindset to go back just yet.

"I mean, once we're all better," Peter said before Natasha could reply. "It's been a long few days. We can go back there some other time. Maybe when I get out of school for the year. I mean, not that you guys should wait on me, but I'm out of school on June 15th and if that happens to work out, I want to help."

Natasha's expression softened and she placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "If we're able to make it work, we will. You did a great job this week. I'd be happy to have you on my team again."

Peter's bashful smile returned, but before he could say anything, Natasha was already walking away. She turned down one hallway and was gone and by the time Peter reached the corner, he didn't see her anymore.

Peter had his pizza and his training and got much more comfortable in the Avenger's compound than he ever thought he would. It was a paradise of all the best technology and all the best lab equipment and the best food anyone could order for takeout. One night he'd told Tony about a burger place his class had gone to in DC and that night, it was sitting there waiting for him on the kitchen counter, as warm and fresh as if they had just gotten it from down the street.

But, by the end of the week, he missed May and Ned and MJ, and he even missed the comforting routine of going to school. Thankfully, the half-week was short and soon Happy was driving him back to the big city. When he showed up at his doorstep in his Hawaiian shirt and some souvenir nick-nack Tony had given him for May, his Aunt hugged the rest of the air out his lungs.

And then it was time to get back to school. Spring break was the line between just going to school and seriously starting to finish up the year. Peter had more projects, more tests, and more things to do before he could collect his yearbook and pack it in for the year. He was also not taking the easiest of classes and finals were sure to be tough. He continued to patrol as Spider-Man, but as May came to a close and June ramped up, he went out less and less. Tony said he'd keep a close eye on the city so long as Peter focused on not failing.

With everything happening in his real life, he didn't get much in the way of Avenger's updates. He had no idea what was going on with the investigation. There were no news reports, obviously, and Tony never had anything more to tell him than, "we're investigating." Peter also never heard more about Natasha's injuries, not that it was really any of his business, but something had seemed off about that day in the hall. He couldn't figure out how she managed to look so... okay after all that had happened. Something about her words and actions had also seemed off like she was out of her normal character. Peter figured it was just whatever medication they'd had her on. He remembered coming to a few times and that medicine made you loopy as hell. And, he also didn't have time to really question the whole situation. School just took too much of his time.

Then, like a giant wave that is watched out in the distance, June 15th finally came ashore quicker than expected. Peter found himself outside the school surrounded by cheering peers and crying seniors.

"Hey, wanna get together for a DND session at my place tomorrow?" Ned asked. "My parents are out of town to take my sister to camp."

"Lame," MJ replied in a deadpan voice and an eye-roll.

"Well, are you in?" Ned pressed.

"Of course."

Ned then turned to Peter. "What about you?"

"Huh?" Peter asked. "Oh yeah! Sure, I'm up for that."

"For what, Peter?" MJ questioned.

"For… fun."

"DND."

"Right. That."

MJ reached over and lightly knocked a fist on Peter's forehead. "Is there anything going on up there, or have you turned your brain off for the summer?"

"No, no, just. I can't believe summer's here," Peter replied. "It just came so quick."

"Not quick enough," MJ commented. "And you better keep that big stupid brain of your turned on because we're having Decathlon practices every other week until August, and then we're having them every week."

"Got it." Peter smiled back. The three friends said their parting words and then walked down opposite streets towards their respective homes. About five minutes into his walk as Peter turned down a less trafficked road, he heard what sounded like a car pull up behind him. He spared a quick glance, thinking it was just someone parking for takeout but found himself looking at a sleek motorcycle. The rider took off their helmet and suddenly Natasha was standing before him, straddling the bike.

"Hey, kid. You just won a free trip back to Siberia. You in?"

Peter grinned at her. He didn't know what he was going to tell Aunt May and he didn't know how he was going to get out of the decathlon practices, but he didn't care. He ran over to the bike, grabbed the spare helmet and said, "Hell yeah, I am!"

As always, happy update day :)