A/N: Trying out my hand in the MCU. I'm sorry if the characters are OOC! If you notice any grammar mistakes, please let me know! You deserve nothing but the best. Thinking of making this into a multi-chapter fic. Let me know if you agree! If it does take off, let me know if there's something you'd like to see in the future!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! I make no profit off of this. This is solely for my enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of others! ;)

––––––––––

"Welcome back, Mr. Parker."

A grin stretched across Peter's face as the familiar Irish brogue filled the elevator. "Hey, FRIDAY. Can you take me to see Mr. Stark?"

The request hadn't fully left his mouth yet when the elevator was thrown into motion. "Show off," he mumbled under his breath, but there was no real heat to it.

"Well, I was created by Mr. Stark," the AI quipped, "What were you expecting?"

Peter snorted as he adjusted the backpack on his shoulder. He had received a text message from Tony right as school had let out, informing him that Happy was there to pick him up and bring him to the Avengers Compound. That message was followed by three words: Bring your suit. Tony had even tagged on a spider emoji.

Whenever Tony told him to bring his suit, it usually meant one of two things. 1. They were going to spend the day in Tony's extensive lab or, 2. They were going to be training that day, and as much as Peter loved tinkering in the lab with his mentor, training days were so much more fun.

They'd work on hand-to-hand combat, evasive maneuvers, and field medicine from time to time.

Most of the time it was just him and Tony, but on rare occasion there'd be another Avenger in the facility and Peter would get to learn from them that day. So far, he'd had lessons from Sam, Col. Rhodes, Clint, and even from the Black Widow herself.

Peter wasn't scared of much but after sparring with Natasha, he'd definitely added a few new fears to his list.

The Avengers training facility was located in the basement of the Compound and judging from the fact that FRIDAY sent the elevator down instead of up, Peter guessed it was a training day.

The elevator ride to the basement couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but Peter was already bouncing with anticipation. Was it just going to be him and Tony today? Or maybe Rhodey? Would it be the Black Widow again? He wasn't sure he could handle sparring with her again anytime in the near future.

Peter was bounding forward into the main training area before the doors had a chance to open all the way. "Hey, Mr. Stark!" He piped. "I brought my–– oh god." Peter dug his heels into the ground and was just barely able to stop himself from colliding with a six foot something wall of sheer muscle.

He scurried back a few steps as the man turned around, and Peter was embarrassed to admit that he released a small gasp when he suddenly found himself face to face with Captain America.

"You alright, kid?" The Captain placed a steadying hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter nodded quickly, his head snapping up and down on his neck a lot faster than it should.

"Yeah, yeah! Sorry, I didn't see you standing there. I don't know how I didn't see you there, you're really tall, kinda hard to miss actually, you know being larger than life and all that. Not that you're large or anything! That's so not what I meant. You're not large! I mean you have large muscles but that doesn't make you large. Definitely not large." If it were physically possible, Peter would have been kicking himself at that moment. Stupid motor mouth.

"Lemme start over." Peter sucked in a huge breath and stuck out his hand. "I'm Peter."

The look on the Captain's face as he shook Peter's hand was one of amusement mixed with concern, but he didn't make any comments about the previous interaction. Instead, he responded with, "Steve Rogers. So you're the kid Tony's always talking about. Spider-Man, is it?"

Peter felt something like pride swell in his chest at the comment. Tony talked about him to the other Avengers?

He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips as Captain America released his hand. "Uh yeah, that's me."

"Nice to officially meet you, Peter," the older man said, placing his hands on this hips. It wasn't until the man said that that Peter realized that the only time they had met was at the airport in Germany, if you could call that a meeting.

Peter's winced at the memory. "Right… I'm sorry about that, by the way," he offered. "I mean for stealing your shield and stuff…"

The other man's hand waved in the air as if waving off Peter's words. "Don't worry about that. No harm, no foul." He gave the teenager a smile that showed off his perfectly straight, white teeth.

Oh, boy. Was everything about this man perfect?

"Laying on the charm a bit thick there, aren't we Rogers?"

Peter had to lean to side to see around the bigger man's frame and saw his mentor approaching holding a jacket in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

"Hey, Mr. Stark!" Peter gave him a quick wave.

Tony's lip twitched upwards in what Peter decided to call a smile. "Hey, Pete. I see you've already met Cap," he gestured at the taller man with his water bottle.

Peter walked forward until he was level with Steve. "Yeah, um are you guys… I mean is everything… you know…" His eyes flicked uncomfortably back and forth between the two men. Tony opened his mouth to reply but Cap beat him to it.

"We're fine, Peter," he said, repeating his earlier action of placing his hand on Peter's shoulder. He gave it comforting squeeze before let go. He took off in the direction of a door to his left, giving Tony's shoulder a friendly pat as he passed.

Peter waited until the door had closed behind the Captain before he said anything. "What's he doing here?" He asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at the older man. Tony lifted a finger, signaling Peter to wait as he took a long pull from his water bottle.

It was then that Peter noticed that his mentor's face was covered in a light sheen of sweat he was breathing heavier than normal. Maybe he had been doing some solo training? It wasn't unheard of, but it also wasn't exactly normal Tony behavior.

Tony had once told Peter that he absolutely loathed having to train. Tony had said, "There is absolutely no reason why I should spend hours whacking away at punching bags and lifting glorified frisbees. I'll fight when there's a threat. Not before and not after."

Irregardless, he still trained as hard as anyone Peter had ever seen.

Peter was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Tony snapping the lid shut on his water bottle.

"It's a team training day," he finally responded, swinging his jacket carelessly over his shoulder, He made an abrupt about face and started walking back the way he came. Peter was quick to follow.

"Team training?" He asked. "As in the Avengers?" They stopped at the door Steve had exited through moments ago. Tony put his hand on the doorknob as he looked down at the teen.

He was silent for a moment a gazed down at the baffled look directed at him. "Promise me you'll stay cool."

Peter quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, man, of course. So cool. Totally cool." He flashed a double thumbs up. Tony rolled his eyes but twisted the knob and threw open the door anyway. Peter waited for Tony to enter first but was quick to follow.

In an instant, Peter's promise to be cool flew out the window.

The room itself was devoid of the usual training equipment and was instead outfitted with padded pillars and lone-standing rectangles all placed sporadically around the room. The floor was uneven, complete with potholes, hills, and dips.

But Peter wasn't focusing on any of that. His attention was zeroed in on the group taking a water break by the wall to Peter's right. The teenager felt his heart begin to speed up as Tony grabbed one of his arms and began to him over to the group known as the Avengers.

Natasha was the first to notice the pair coming towards the group. A small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she said, "Hey, Peter."

That caught of the attention of the others. Peter waved nervously at the chorus of 'Hey, Peter!'s and 'Nice to meet you.'s. Steve took the liberty of introducing Peter to everyone, making sure he knew everyone's name. It didn't escape Peter's attention that everyone was in uniform, like, full battle gear.

He cut his eyes to side to look at Tony and saw that what he had previously mistaken for compression pants was in fact the Iron Man under armor. A quick glance around the group found the Iron Man suit itself standing empty just beyond the team.

Peter, suddenly feeling severely underdressed, turned towards the brunet standing next to him. "Um, Mr. Stark?"

Tony responded with a distracted "Mhmm?" having pulled his phone out of god knows where and was currently pecking away at the keys.

"Should I get changed?"

Tony's eyes flicked up from the device momentarily before returning to the screen. "I thought you already had the suit on." He didn't wait for Peter's reply before jerking a thumb over his right shoulder at door behind him. "Make it quick. It's time to get this show back on the road."

Peter didn't wait to be told twice. The door led to a small bathroom with just enough room to Peter to wiggle his way into the suit. He held his mask with in hand and shoved his school clothes into his backpack with the other.

He left the mask off as he reentered the training room and saw the group was migrating towards a staircase Peter hadn't previously noticed. He briefly wondered if he should follow, but before he had a chance to voice his question, Clint had turned around and gestured for him to join them.

The staircase connected to large metal box and, after stepping inside, Peter found it to be theatre of sorts. Three of the sides were completely made of glass and in front of the left one stood a large control panel.

There were cushy looking chairs agains the fourth wall, which some of the Avengers had already settled into. On the wall above the chairs was a massive chalkboard. Each of the Avengers' names were on the left side of the board, each name written in a different color chalk.

At the top of the board was the word 'time' written in big bold letters. Each of the Avengers had four slots next to their name. One that said 'Current', the next that said 'Best', the third said 'Hits', and the fourth said 'Civ. Hits'.

It wasn't surprising to see that the best time on the board was Captain America: 6 minutes and 28 seconds with no hits in either slot.

Peter tore his eyes away from the scoreboard and scurried over to where Steve and Tony stood in front of the control panel, Tony pushing buttons and twisting knobs in what Peter saw as a random sequence but was probably very specific in Tony's world. "Um, Mr. Stark?" He said for the second time that day. "Can I ask what it is exactly we'll be doing?"

Instead of answering the question himself, Tony deflected it to the team's leader. "Run it down for him, Cap."

Steve crossed his arms to turn and face Peter. "We're working in pairs today. Now, this isn't the usual 'spar with a buddy' routine. The training today is learning how to save your teammate or a civilian. One person's the hero and the another is the civilian,."

Peter nodded along as Steve talked. On the outside, he was surprisingly cool. On the inside however, he was freaking out. What if he failed at this? What if he only succeeded in getting his teammate 'killed'? He'd failed Tony before, but to fail in front of the rest of the Avengers? Peter didn't think he was ever going to be able to live it down.

"…without a weapon; we'll practice it both ways. Does this all make sense so far?"

Peter nodded again. He'd missed part of what Cap had said but he didn't want to embarrass himself by asking the man to repeat it.

"It's only a simulation so you can't actually die. The projectiles might bruise you, so just do your best not to get hit. Still with me?"

Peter nodded a third time. "One hero, one civilian. Can't die but don't get hit. Got it."

It was Steve who nodded this time. "Good. We'll be doing the weapons round first, so you can use your weapon of choice."

The teenager bounced on the balls of his feet, itching to get started.

"The goal is get your civilian to that red 'x'–" The soldier pointed to a glowing red 'x' on the far wall, "– without harming them. Your civilian gets hurt, you start over. Do you understand?"

"Yep, I got it." This didn't sound like it would be too hard.

Steve reached beneath the control panel and pulled out a box filled with what appeared to be goggles. Peter frowned as the soldier pulled out pair and handed them to the teen.

"Wait," he said, turning over the head gear in his hands. "Are these virtual reality glasses?"

"They are," Tony answered. He grabbed a pair for himself. "But they are my design. They connect with the console here," he said, rapping his knuckles against the machine, "and show you whatever input I enter. This," he tapped the set in Peter's hands, "is how you see your enemy."

Peter's frown deepened. "But then where do the projectiles come from. Captain Rogers said–"

"There's machinery built into the walls," Steve interjected. "And call me Steve."

"Oh, okay," Peter accepted, but he still sounded unsure. Tony quickly caught on to the confusion masked in the kid's voice.

Stark turned back to the console where he flipped a few switches. "Would it help to see it in action first?" Peter was about to respond that he didn't care either way and that he trusted what the men were telling him when suddenly Tony called on Sam and Clint.

"You two are up," he commanded, as the two men rose to their feet. "Show the kid how it works," he said, tossing a headset to Sam.

Peter waited for Tony to give Clint a set and was confused when the pair exited with only the one pair. "Doesn't Mr. Clint need a pair too?" He asked. Steve shook his head. "It's part of the exercise. You only get a headset if your the hero. If you're playing the part of the civilian, it forces you to trust your teammate."

Peter's lips formed a silent 'oh'. That made sense. He walked towards the front wall, which was purely made of glass, and noticed that he wasn't alone. Natasha, Wanda, and Steve joined him at the glass, all of them watching as Sam slid the fitted the headset over is eyes.

"Wilson, you ready?" Tony's voice rang out over the loudspeaker.

Sam flashed him a thumbs up before lowering himself into a crouch.

Tony pushed another button before speaking into the mic again. "Barton, no left leg and no left arm."

Instead of giving Tony thumbs up as Sam had, Clint chose to display another one of his fingers.

"What does that mean? About his arm and his leg?" Peter asked of no one in particular.

"It means that Clint can't use either of those. He can only use his right arm and his right leg," Natasha responded.

Peter watched as Tony tossed Steve a stopwatch, waited for the Captain's nod, then spoke back into the mic. "Get in position."

Sam jogged halfway away from the archer until he was in the corner near the entrance to the room. Clint lowered himself to the ground until he was laying on his stomach.

"You're on the clock starting now. Good luck."

Tony stepped away from the console and took a spot next to Peter. The teen watched the scene unfolding in front on him. He watched as Sam rushed towards his teammate's prone form. He dropped to his knees at Clint's side at the exact second a sound not unlike an explosion rang out.

Peter flinched as the sound ripped through his eardrums, barely forcing down the urge to cover his ears.

"Kid? You okay?" Tony asked, not missing the flinch. Peter nodded brusquely. "I'm good."

He kept his eyes trained on Sam as the man said something to Clint before flipping the archer gently onto his back.

There was another exchange of words that Peter couldn't quite catch over the cacophony of explosions and gunshots echoing throughout the room.

He didn't let that deter his focus as he kept his eyes trained on the two men, wanting to remember everything they did for when it was his own turn.

Peter watched as Sam was able to get Clint up off the ground and brought them both to shelter behind one of the many rectangles Peter had noticed earlier.

Sam moved with practice ease as he guided them through the maze, ducking and weaving, occasionally shooting at an enemy only he could see, and always shielding his teammate.

Peter learned that the projectiles that Steve had explained really did come from the walls. Small squares of the walls dropped away to reveal something resembling not unlike the precision muzzle of a machine gun. But instead of bullets, it launched–

A string of curses left Sam's mouth as his arm was suddenly colored bright blue.

–paint.

Never once did he make any moves that would place Clint in 'harm's' way. He was hyper aware of Clint's 'injuries' and made sure to check in with him from time to time.

It was over in a matter of minutes. Sam slapped a hand against the glowing 'x'. The effect was instantaneous. The sound of gunshots and explosions died into nothingness as Sam pushed up his goggles. Clint unhooked his arm from around Sam's shoulder and put his full weight back on both legs.

"You good?" Sam asked the archer.

"Dude, if you ever slide me like a friggin shuffleboard puck again, I'm going to lose it," Clint retorted, shoving a finger into Sam's chest.

Wilson just laughed as he shoved Clint' had aside. "I make no promises."

Clint snorted before giving the other man a hearty backslap. "Nice work, man."

Steve stepped away from the glass and quickly wrote in Sam's new time on the chalkboard. Peter watched as he picked up a stick of red chalk and wrote 8:16 in the 'Current' slot. He scratched in a '1' under 'Hits' and '0' under 'Civ. Hits'.

Peter's head snapped to side when the door to the viewing theatre was thrown open and in came the two men. He jumped slightly when Tony suddenly clasped a hand on to his shoulder.

He turned an apprehensive gaze on the taller man.

"You're up, Pete."

–––––––––––

Peter clenched and unclenched his fists, nervously awaiting the start signal. Tony had informed him that he could route the virtual battle scene directly into this mask so he didn't need the goggles.

As of right now, he was still seeing empty training room. He blew a shaky breath. He wasn't nervous about what he had to do, he was nervous about messing up what he was doing. It didn't help that Mr. Stark was the civilian he had to protect.

Peter had failed him before. He was determined this time to get it right.

"Peter, are you ready?" It was Natasha's voice over the loudspeaker this time. Peter rolled his head on his neck, forcing the muscles to relax. He gave the Widow a thumbs up before retreating to the corner Sam had previously.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs to their maximum capacity. He released it slowly, trying to calm his nerves. God, why was he so nervous about this? It was just a training exercise. He could do this.

"Alright, Stark, you're out."

Out? What'd she mean out?

"Get in position."

Tony got on the ground just as Clint had before.

"You're on the clock. Good luck, Peter."

Peter's vision suddenly went dark. He blinked and looked around. Was this supposed to happen? And then, as if someone had flipped a switch, his visions returned. He looked around in shock at the tall buildings surrounding him, the overturned cars burning on the street, the people screaming and running for safety.

He knew he was still in the training room, but this all looked so real. He was snapped out of his daze when a barrage of gunshots rang out. Peter ducked and dove forward into a roll, easily springing to his feet and running towards the unmoving form of Tony Stark.

He dropped to his knees hands reaching out towards his mentor. It was then that he was struck with the horrifying truth of not knowing what he should do.

Oh god. Oh god. Think, Peter. What had Sam done?

Peter screwed his eyes shut as he tried to think back to Sam and Clint's exercise. Sam had said something to Clint first. Tried to rouse him maybe?

Worth a shot. "Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark! Can you hear me?" Peter placed his hands on Tony's shoulders and tapped them firmly. "Mr. Stark, can you hear me?" He repeated. Nothing. Tony didn't so much as blink.

Shit. Now what?

"Incoming to your left," came Karen's calm voice. Peter's head snapped up and looked in the direction the AI had indicated. Sure enough, there was something coming towards the pair on the ground.

Peter squinted, trying to figure out exactly what the thing was. It resembled a man, walking on two legs, and yet it had four arms and was brandishing a gun in each, one of which was currently pointed at–

Instinct threw Peter down flat next to the other man as the creature fired a round at the two. Quickly, Peter flipped onto his back and webbed the creature's arms to its side. For good measure, he stuck the creature's knees and feet together, only satisfied when it gave an earsplitting screech and fell face down, struggling to get free from the trap.

"Sorry!" Peter shouted as he hopped to his feet, reached down and hauled Tony up with him. It was times like this when Peter was truly thankful that that spider had given him freaky strength.

He tugged one of Tony's arms around his shoulders and placed one of his own hand around Stark's waist.

"Okay, okay, I got this," he assured himself under his breath. "It's going to be okay," he told Tony, forgetting that the man could actually hear him. "I've got you. We're going to make it."

And then they were off. Peter used overturned cars and lampposts to prop Tony against whenever he had to use both hands to fight off another ugly green creature.

There were almost to the 'x' when the creatures swarmed them, swiftly forming a ring around Peter and Tony, waving their guns menacingly. Peter knew they were trapped and he knew he was going to need both hands to get out of this one. He also knew that he couldn't just lay Tony on the ground; that would leave him unprotected.

So, Peter did the only thing he could think of.

He gathered Tony into his arms and launched him upwards with all his might. He wasted no time as he immediately swung out at the nearest creature, his fist catching him in the snout. "Karen, give me a splitter web!"

Peter pressed down on his web shooter and watched as the webs launched out and snagged onto each of the creatures' weapons. Peter grabbed the master strand and tugged with all his might, grinning with satisfaction as the weapons went flying out the creatures' hands.

He looked up following his mentor's trajectory. Peter's eyes flicked over the area ahead of him, running a quick equation in his mind.

Peter knew he had to act quickly. He fired two webs that attached to the buildings to either side of him. Holding a web in each hand, Peter backed up, pulling the ropes tight before he jumped up and outwards allowing the webs to shoot him like a stone from a slingshot.

His math had been correct. He collided with Tony midair and wrapped his arms around him. "I gotcha!" What his math and not accounted for was their landing. They were too close to the red 'x'. Even if Peter managed to get web out and swing them another direction, they'd still be crushed like bugs on windshield.

Peter did the next best thing that came to mind. He twisted until he was underneath Tony and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact. But it was hard to brace for what you couldn't see.

It was almost as if the ground had reached up and smacked Peter. There was an audible "Oof!" as the air was forcibly shoved out of Peter's lungs. Despite being slightly dazed, Peter still managed to roll with the fall, over and over until his back hit a wall. He squinted open one eye and was nearly blinded by the glow of the red 'x'.

He closed his eye as he reached up a hand and blindly smacked the wall.

All sound of gunfire dropped away and suddenly there were hands pulling off his mask.

"Kid, can you hear me? Kid? Peter! Breathe, Pete, come on!"

Peter was pretty certain he was breathing, so why did this man feel the need to keep yelling at him?

"You've got to take breath, Peter. You need air. Don't make me do it. Are you making me do it? Fine."

Peter gasped as suddenly there was painful grinding against his sternum. "There you go, kid, that's it."

His vision swam back into focus and he realized Tony's face was no more than a few inches away. Peter jerked back and was rewarded by smacking his head against the wall. He reached up a hand to grasp at his pounding head.

"Jesus," he breathed under his breath.

"Nope. Sorry to disappoint. Try again."

Peter pried one eye open. "Mr. Stark?"

"Ooh we've got a winner folks!" Tony's tone was jaunty but his voice was quiet. If Peter didn't know Tony better, he'd say that the man was just trying to ignore the problem. But Peter knew joking about situations was Tony's way of trying to hide his concern.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter bolted upright, nearly smacking foreheads with said man. "Are you okay? Did I save you? Did we win? Is it–"

His words were muffled by a calloused hand suddenly clamping over his mouth. "I'm fine, kid," Tony reassured. "You did good."

Peter heaved a sigh of relief as Tony removes his hand. "What I'm more concerned about right now is you," Tony said ducking his head to peer into Peter's eyes. "You feeling dizzy? Nauseous? Shortness of breath?"

Peter started to shake his head, but stopped when a warning stab of pain shot through his skull. He thought he had concealed his wince of pain, but Tony being Tony saw it anyway. It didn't help that the man was still no more than a foot away from the teen.

"What was that? What's wrong?" He grabbed Peter's chin and gently forced the kid to look at him.

"It was nothing. I'm–"

"Hmm nope. Not the answer I was looking for. Want to try again?"

"Mr. Stark, I swear I'm–"

"Strike two, Parker. This isn't looking good for you. Either tell me what's going on or I swear to god I will carry you our of here bridal style and tuck you into bed like a two year old."

Peter was silent for a moment as he studied his mentor. The words were said lightly but there was a steely glint in Tony's eyes that made Peter think twice.

"I think I might've hit my head during that landing," he admitted quietly.

Tony frowned and reached a hand behind Peter's head. He gently carded a hand through the hair on the back of Peter's head, searching for any abnormalities. Satisfied that he found none, Tony dropped his hand onto Peter's shoulder instead.

"Kid, as heroic as that was, don't ever – and I mean ever – do that again."

Peter laughed breathily as he repeated Sam's words from earlier, "No promises."

–––––––––

A/N: Like I said, if this takes off and there's something you'd like to see for certain characters, let me know!

Thanks for reading! Drop me a review if you've got the time!