A year to Remember. Part 2, the Internship

Hangups and Hang-outs

Wednesday morning with Peter and the inters, "Hey Eric!", Peter waves at his robotics lab supervisor. "What are you doing here?".

"Jason had to run off, so they transferred me here for the day". He chuckles, setting up his stuff on Jason's desk, Peter helping if only to play with Eric's 3 homemade bubbleheads, giggling. "You like?", Eric asks smirking at him.

Pete bobbles, nodding in response. "Of course I do. Jack, Corey and Tommy look amazing. And they Bobble!", He flails his arms pointing at the heads, overt excitement reaching critical mass. Though it was Distracted by a *clank*, "did you hear that?", Pete snaps his head around the room looking for a source.

Eric looks at him confused, "hear what?". Peter's sight lands back on Eric, shrugging his shoulders, moving on. Eric takes Peter's proximity to ask, "Hey Pete, I'm not really allowed to leave this lab cause there's kids here. I sent a report to the robotics printers before coming here, might picking it up?".

Nodding he replies, "Sure Eric, I'll be right back", he bounces towards the door, Eric thanking him as he exits the lab. On his way he's sure he keeps hearing it, *Clank. Clank. Clank*, every so often on his way there. He's sure it's real and has grown suspicious. He hears it once more while he waits inside the side room with the printer and all its supplies. Prepared, he now knows where it came from. He subtly looks towards the vent hatch, spotting an eye staring back; He chuckles, "I know you're there Mr Barton, come on out".

It takes a couple seconds for a reply, in the form of an exasperated sigh, a loud bang and an Avenger in tights landing semi-gracefully in front of him. "Not bad kid, not many notice me crawling in the vents". He tries to congratulate and avoid the question that inevitably lands on him anyways.

"Well, it's a lot easier when you were following me, why?", Peter looks at him confidently, Clint secretly happy to see Peter has grown more comfortable with him, in contrast with their first interactions. "I was bored and you're a new friend!", He tries to charm his way out, and by charm he means goof, "and you're the kid that softened Tony's heart".

Peter freezes for a second, flushing lightly at the compliment, his spider snark breaking through. "Yeah, and would Mr Stark approve of you stalking a teenager- Stalking his intern?". A trick that would've worked on anyone but the avengers, specially this one. Clint waves him off, "He doesn't need to know".

Pete rolls his eyes, Clint's dismissiveness of Tony or authority something he's already used to and also safe knowing blaming Barton is a perfect excuse. "So, what do you want that necessitated following me around the tower?"

Looking for an excuse and already having curiosity in mind, he starts more serious than before and than Peter is used to. "I wanted to ask you about Loki". Peter's surprised by the choice of topic, yet knowing exactly where it's headed. "Before we get to accusations, how about you tell me about him first", he asks, playing a bit more aggressive than usual, than he'd like, looking through the few curls of hair over his eyes, challenging at Clint.

He leans back on the same wall as the vent, sitting down on the floor, beckoning Clint to follow, "You have more history with him, and I wouldn't want to assume". Clint can't help look back at his previous conversations with the kid; he talks like he texts. From the floor he replies, "This stays private. I'm trusting you with my life here kid"

Pete nods at the stern stare before Clint starts. "Wanda and Pietro aren't my first kids, I've had a secret family for over 12 years. Three kids". Now, Peter already kind of knew this, from his time as Spider-Man with the Avengers and his minor and slightly illegal hacking of SHIELD a while back.

"No one besides the Avengers know about them, and I want to keep it that way, understood?". Peter presses his hand on Clint's shoulder, "your secret's safe with me", He replies with the purest look he can muster. Naturally it works. 'He really is too precious for this world', Clint thinks before continuing. "There's also more to the Battle of New York than you know, at least, depending on how much you've read".