Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 15 - Sinking and Sailing Ships

"(A/I), I need you to be on especially high alert today, ok?" I spoke in a hushed voice into my bracelet so that Natasha wouldn't hear me. "If anyone tries to get into my room, you need to notify me immediately."

"Perhaps you should just not go out tonight," (A/I) suggested, her voice speaking through my ear piece.

"Can't do that, they might get suspicious that the only day Shadow's not around kicking ass is the only day I've got babysitters. Besides, I want to patrol with Peter again now that I know who he really is," I replied as I teleported to the place I had promised to meet Peter.

"Hey, Spider-Boy," I called out as I walked up to meet him.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that," he complained, turning to face me. "You're late though, I thought you were ditching me."

"How could I ditch a perfectly fine partner like you? I just got held up by something, I'm usually very punctual, I assure you."

"Why am I not surprised by that?" He asked in response, swinging to the next rooftop as we began our patrol.

I stayed back for a moment, watching him and wondering how this man was the same person who stuttered whenever he talked to me and appeared to be nothing more than a giant nerd. I had never pinned Peter as a good a liar and that was what scared me. If I couldn't tell that Peter was living a double life the first time I met him, how could I trust myself to decipher an undercover enemy threat?

...

"What are you doing up so early?" I heard my father ask as he came into the kitchen for coffee the following morning.

I frowned, wondering why he would ask such a stupid question, "because I have school? I'm going to be leaving in, like, ten minutes."

"No you're not, the compound is still on lockdown," Tony informed me, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. "We still don't know who hacked me and what, if anything, they made away with, which means you are not safe out there."

"You've got to be kidding me," I replied, not believing that he would forbid me from going to school just because I managed to hack one of his files. "I can't just not show up, people will be wondering where I am."

"I've already informed the school that you are sick today. You have a stomach bug, probably just a twenty four hour thing, unless we can't catch whoever is behind the attack before tomorrow. I thought you hate school, why are you so eager to go back?"

"I have friends, that's all. I just figured they'd be worried about where I'd gone. I could care less about the classes, I'm not learning anything anyway," I told him, placing my breakfast plates in the dishwasher and heading back to my room, Bucky getting ready to follow me to my next location.

However, Tony stopped me before I left the kitchen, "you know I'm only doing this to protect you, right? If whoever it was who broke into my files found out about you and shared that news with the public, you will be one of the most targeted people on the planet. Yes, I know that you're good enough to fight them off yourself, but it gives me peace of mind to know that someone else capable of covering your six is with you as well. This all started after we started looking into Shadow, I'm afraid that she might be behind it and I can't risk you facing her alone."

"Did you talk to Steve?" I asked, finding his sudden explanation for his actions a bit unnatural, electing to ignore his suspicions of Shadow. I mean, he wasn't exactly wrong in assuming she was behind it.

He nodded, "and I understand your frustration, but please let me protect you. I know I've never been the best dad, I don't always know what to say to comfort you or how to make you see that I love you, but protecting you is something I know I can do."

"I know you're trying to do your best, dad. And I do appreciate it, no matter how unnecessary it is. But you could just be overreacting, if you can't track them, how do you know that this wasn't just a false alarm?"

"It wasn't a false alarm, (Y/N), it wish it were. Someone's found out how to hack my files and now your life is at risk because of it."

Silence fell over the room for a moment before I spoke up, "well, that was a bit dramatic, wasn't it? I'm going to go find something for Bucky and I to do while he's stuck being my babysitter."

I began to walked through the compound with him trailing behind as I asked him, "so, Bucky, do you have any suggestions?"

"Other than to make sure no one tries to take you out, not really," he replied, making me roll my eyes.

"No one's coming to take me out, my dad's just overreacting. Now I'm just gonna text my friends to let them know that I am 'sick' and maybe we could play a board game or something," I decided, pulling out my phone and sending the same text to Ned, Peter, and MJ: Hey I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be in school today, I've got some sort of stomach bug.

I ended up pulling out Battleship out of the game closet, thinking of nothing better to do with him. He seemed happy to play, but I was trying to decipher if it was just all an act because he had to protect me or he was genuinely enjoying himself.

"You and Steve are awfully loyal to one another," I commented as I strategically planned my next shot. I knew Bucky tended to keep his ships away from the edges as he thought they were too predictable and that often times two ships would be rather close together, so I just needed to determine where the clusters were placed.

"We've been friends since childhood, I protected him as a kid and he saved me from HYDRA on multiple occasions. We owe each other our lives," he replied, never taking his eyes off of his board.

"Friendship? That's the card you're going to play?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow. "E3. Look, I know that you come from a time when gay relationships were considered unnatural, but we really have become more accepting in society. You care about him more than just a friend, don't you? I can see the way that the two of you look at each other. You guys share the same look Tony gets whenever he sees Pepper."

"Hit. B7."

"Miss. So you're just going to avoid the subject? Come on, Buck, you know you can trust me. E4."

"Hit. Listen, (Y/N), it's not that I don't trust you. It's just-it's hard for me. When I saw Steve for the first time after he went into the ice while I was actually myself, he kissed a woman who was helping us out. I-I don't even know if he is interested in men. H6."

"Hit. Bucky, trust me when I say that Steve feels the same way you do. But, if you want more proof, I'll get him to confess his feelings or at least that he's bisexual. E5."

After the very intense game of Battleship, which unfortunately Bucky barely won, I checked my phone and discovered replies to my texts.

MJ: You better not have had it when we were all hanging out together, loser.

MJ: Just kidding, I hope you feel better soon.

Ned: That sucks, I really hope that you get better soon!

Peter: Are you sure you're alright?

Peter: If there's anything I can do, please let me know.

Peter: My Aunt May usually gives me ginger ale and ice chips until I'm able to eat a little bit of toast.

Peter: Also, try to get a lot rest, that helps. And I'll let you know if anything interesting happens at school, not that you would really need to know as you seem to already know everything they've been teaching you.

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(A/N): Look at Peter being all caring towards you, isn't he the sweetest! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!