Avengers Imagines

Returning the Favor- Peter Parker

(Gender Neutral Reader)

"And this is the rest of the team, Wanda, Vision, Rhodey," Bruce was introducing you to your new teammates but you barely heard the names over your nervous, sledgehammer heartbeat in your ears. "And this is Peter. He's new, so you guys have that in common." Though it was through blurry vision, you saw an utterly cute boy smiling at you, but your mind was too cluttered to even respond. You simply nodded with a tight-lipped smile. "Tony has a suit for you in the lab if you want to head there next," Bruce said in your peripheral vision, but the weight on your chest was starting to get too heavy to breathe.

"I'm, uh, I-I need a second, okay?" You didn't wait for a response, and just hurried back into the hallway you just came through. If you wandered any further than that and you would've definitely gotten lost in this foreign facility. After you were threw the doors, you felt like you could breathe, but it didn't stop your shaking hands inability to calm your heartbeat. This was all happening so fast.

You'd had the ability of portal teleportation your whole life. Your parents told you it was some illegal and experimental trial to help with some fatal disease you were born with, etc., etc. It didn't really matter. What mattered was that you had to figure out how to control your powers some how, and while you'd been managing, you felt like maybe you could do more. In your attempt to wrangle powers you never asked for, you tried GAMMA radiation, and you tracked down Dr. Bruce Banner. He was impressed a kid would go out of her way to find him and ask for help, so he did just that. Years later when you had a handle on it, you called him up again. Only this time, you were offering help.

After that everything happened in warp speed. You met with a few of the Avengers head honchos via Bruce to show what you could do, and they decided you could handle fighting alongside them, despite being a teenager. Then you were moved to upstate New York, met the rest of the team, and had a mild panic attack due to the whiplash of the situation. What if you were in over your head? What if you were fine in training but choked when it came to being in the field? You were there to help protect them in combat, what if you failed? Oh god what if them died because of you? They just saw you start to have a breakdown, what if they don't trust you? What if-

"Hey, are you alright?" a familiar voice asked you, pretty gingerly, and you looked up to see the guy from earlier approaching you cautiously.

"Um..." you started before sighing, staring down at your feet, "honestly?" He nodded with concern in his eyes. "No, I'm not alright," an ironic chuckle left your lips. An empathetic expression played on his features before Peter sat beside you. You don't remember sitting down, but your panic must've weakened your legs too much too stand.

"I've been there. I'm sure even the rest of the team has. It's overwhelming, becoming...all this," he gestured to the building around you two. "But we're all with you. We support each other here, ya know? We're all on the same team." There was no doubt that he was being genuine. You could hear it in his voice.

Through a nervous gnaw on your lip, you looked over to the other teenager on your new team. Trying to get your heartbeat back to normal would be very difficult being this close to him. Peter had an empathetic, quirked little smile and a look in his eyes that suggested he hoped you were okay. The entirety of him was completely inviting and charming, and despite having only two interactions with him, you felt comforted by him. Drawn to him even.

"Thanks...Spider-Man, right?" you asked as you were starting to feel at ease again.

"Right," he answered with an adorably proud smile.

***

After only three missions, you still getting the hang of having a level head in combat. Peter was right, everyone supported you, and trusted you, but you were still beyond nervous. There was a weight to every mission you went on that plagued your mind with insecurity. However, you had no choice but to work through it.