Survivor

24. Challenges

"Don't run away from challenges - run over them."

Peter was in the hallway of the apartment complex he and his aunt lived in. In fact, he was standing right outside his aunt's door. He was more nervous than he'd ever been around his aunt - maybe around anyone - as his hand was poised to knock.

He knew he'd been gone for two days. He hadn't called, no text, no nothing. He would've, of course, had he been conscious long enough. But none of that transpired and she was probably worried half to death - especially after the whole incident was put on the news complete with; 'Spiderman shot in the line of duty'.

That was just great.

Aunt May was going to kill him once she found out he wasn't actually dead.

Taking a deep breath, Peter clenched his fist and stared at the door. Knock. he told himself. Why aren't you knocking? Pause, breath, wait. Do I even know how to knock? Before his fist could make contact with the wood - in about three days when he'd worked his way up to it - the door was flung open and his surprised eyes stared into those of Ned's, who looked on the verge of tears.

"Oh my spades." His best friend breathed, looking seconds away from passing out. "Uuuuuh..." was all Peter could manage to say. "Peter?" Suddenly Aunt May's voice joined the fray, and Peter grinned sheepishly.

"Heeey..."

"PETER!!!" That was Ned, who launched forward and wrapped his arms around Peter in a crushing hug. Peter didn't have the heart to tell him that he was really hurting his side as Ned dragged him inside and shut the door.

"Peter!" Aunt May was next to yank her nephew into a crushing embrace, sobbing into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Aunt May! I didn't mean to worry you, and I didn't mean to leave, and I didn't know how long I would be gone I'm so, so..."

"I know." May chuckled, wiping a tear from her face. "Wha... you're not mad I didn't call?"

"Tony Stark called three times each day to give me an update. In fact, I just got off the phone with him telling us you'd be on your way." She explained shakily. "That didn't mean I didn't miss a call from you, though!" She grumbled, playfully hitting his shoulder before examining the bandages on his side.

"You're ok, though?" Ned spoke up, looking at Peter like he was some kind of mirage. "Yes, Ned, I'm ok." Peter grinned at his friend before hooking an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sorry I made you guys worry." He told them, and Ned shrugged.

"Mr. Stark was really nice about it. We weren't that worried." That earned a scoff from Aunt May. "I have a video of Ned sobbing in a ball on the couch watching the news to disprove that." She announced, heading to the kitchen to feed her teenager with a hyper metabolism.

Ned went beet red at the admission. "We agreed to never mention that."

Peter was glad that everything went back to normal - mostly - so quickly, and could only thank Tony Stark. This made his deal with the man only more exciting. He wanted to convince the Avengers he could take down villains by himself, but that didn't mean he would ever say no to spending more time with them. That also meant that of course he said yes when they asked him to spend the summer there and train.

He was going to spend the summer training with the Avengers!!! He was totally fanboying.

Of course, he couldn't tell Aunt May for fear of ruining her trip to Paris the very same summer. And so, his fanboying was kept on the down-low.

That would be the case until he spilled to Ned later.

oOo

He had failed. Once again, the scorpion did not produce. Thankfully, he had an army to attack the spider with. Tactically, he could send them all at the same time. But for entertainment, sending them one at a time to test the spider was far more interesting.

Of course, he would have to get smart about it. He was not the only one interested in this Spiderman.

oOo

"Are you serious?!" Ned hissed, eyes bigger than the dinner plates they had just eaten pasta off of. After dinner, Ned and Peter retreated to their room where, instead of building with lego or practicing code, Peter told Ned about the Avengers.

"Yeah, we negotiated while Helen ran my bloodwork." He started, remembering Helen's surprise at his still hyper-hyper charged metabolism. She had no idea when that whole thing was going to wear off, but Peter wasn't that anxious - he liked his super healing even faster.

"I got to go home today in exchange for them picking me up on friday, the last day of school, and going straight to the compound. May will be gone by then so it's all good!"

"Dude, best summer camp ever. You have to text me daily with pictures of everything!" Ned squealed and Peter nodded, starting to tell Ned about Scorpio and what happened there.

After Ned was all caught up, he looked about ready to pass out. "You're life is serious, dude." He admitted, blinking in disbelief. "I'm so glad I'm your best friend and not you..." he grinned and Peter laughed before looking at his watch. "Oh right, Mr. Stark also repaired and updated my suit. He's working on a way to make it bulletproof but still moveable, but for now I just have to be careful."

"You're going on patrol? You just got back!"

"This is my responsibility! What if someone got hurt while I was taking the night off? I'll be fine Ned. But, uh, can you cover for me?"

"What? May knows you patrol now, I thought she was cool with it as long as you abide by a midnight curfew..."

"Not to May." Peter rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly while suiting up. "I kind of told the Avengers I'd take the night off."

"Dude. No way. No! You're not going against the Avengers!" Ned insisted, shaking his head profusely. "Come on Ned, do me a solid, please!"

"Holy sparks, I can't believe I'm doing this." Ned grumbled, sitting at Peter's desk and tossing him the comm they made, him having the other one. "Guy in the chair!" Peter hooted, pulling on his mask and switching on his comm - careful to turn off the one linked to the Avengers.

"It's just a night out, should be fine." He insisted, and Ned just shook his head in disbelief at his friend who was proving to be quite the lunatic.

That's right, Peter gets the best summer camp ever - summer camp with the Avengers!!!
Just you wait, you'll never be able to dig your way out of the Avengers fluff and drama I'm about to dump on you!!!

~Meow