- I've gone to see Avengers: Infinity War three times now and it's still just as awesome as it was when I saw it the first time. Still a little upset they decided to turn my favourite superhero to dust for this one but he'll be back. Until that happens, I'll just have to be patient.

- I've been working on another story for the Amazing Spider-Man as often as I could but most of the ideas I thought of never worked or they did at first...and then fell flat just as quickly. Perhaps the accurate thing to say is that while the idea seemed fine, it was my writing that just didn't do it proper justice.

- This idea just came out of the blue one day and while it is mostly based on the Marvel film verse, it's basically a...AU? (is that the right word?) Peter's a little older in this and Tony's asked him to join the Avengers not long after the events in Age of Ultron. He designed his own suit with some of Stark's resources but Karen is something they developed together.

Take your time reading and I hope you enjoy it.

...

"Dude, stop this."

Spider-Man easily sidestepped the steel pipe that was swung at his head and jabbed his left fist forward into the mugger's face, sending him flying through the air before he crashed against a brick wall and crumpled in a unconscious heap.

Snatching up a fallen purse with his webs, Peter held out the bag for the lady hiding behind him. "Here you are, miss. Are you okay?"

"Y-yes." She muttered before her lips twitched into a small smile. "Thank you, Spider-Man."

"No problem. Call the police on this idiot and get home safely...I'd avoid walking through the alleys at night in the future though."

The woman laughed as she gave the webslinger a friendly hug. "I'll remember that. Thank you again, Spider-Man."

Peter nodded and watched her walk into a nearby convenience store before he wall crawled up to the roof of the building.

"Peter, Hawkeye has been calling you continously for the past ten minutes." Karen informed. "Shall I patch him through?"

"Oh shit! I forgot! Patch him through, Karen."

A tiny screen popped up on his hud...with a scowling Clint in the centre of it all.

"Where the hell are you, kid? Did you forget we had a meeting scheduled today?"

Spider-Man sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Mr. Barton. I was busy stopping these thieves when you started calling and I sort of forg-"

"Save the excuses, Parker. Just get your ass here already...Cap's annoyed as it is."

Clint abruptly hung up. Spider-Man let out a sigh before he began to websling his way to the Avenger's compound.

"Are you okay, Peter?" Karen asked, her voice sounding very concerned.

"Yeah...just not looking forward to another evening of most of the Avengers looking at me like I'm a mistake."

Not many people were aware but the A.I. cared very much for Peter and she did everything in her power to make sure the young man was alright both physically and mentally. If only Clint bothered to let her owner explain, he would've known Spider-Man had been busy stopping one of the twelve muggings and two attempted robberies that occurred tonight when he called.

For anyone other than some of the hardheaded Avengers, they would've at least understood why Peter was running late.

...

"I'm so sorry, Captain. I was-"

Peter stopped talking as Steve raised his hand and looked at him with a stern glare. "Kid, you have to learn to be on time. These meetings are important and if you're not here for all of it, there's a good chance you might miss crucial details."

"But I-"

Captain Rogers folded his arms. "No buts. You start coming in on time or I'll suspend you from the team, understood?"

Most of the other Avengers silently agreed with the Captain and were looking at the webslinger as though it was a mistake for him to even be here. The only exceptions were Vision, who just smiled at him politely while the Scarlet Witch and the Black Widow glared at the team for accusing Spider-Man of being lazy when he was anything but.

Natasha had taken a quick liking to Peter when they first met. Unlike most people who tended to keep the Black Widow at arm's length, the young Spider was genuine in his desire to know her as a person and she appreciated how normal he made her feel despite being somewhat aware of her past. Natasha took it upon herself to mentor Peter and she often referred to him as her Маленький паук affectionately.

Wanda and Peter got along very well right from the start. They were almost always seen together whenever he came to the compound. She found it easy to talk to Spider-Man and often confided in him whenever something troubled her. While the majority of the team still believed her to be a potential threat, Peter treated Wanda like a respected friend and would call out the team on their stupidity whenever they voiced their suspicions about her. The fact that he was willing to argue with his idols just for her sake made it all the more endearing and she was happy to have Peter as a close friend.

They understood how busy Peter was between being Spider-Man and being a high school student in his last year. Why the others couldn't get that was a mystery to them.

"Will you just back off, Steve?" Natasha said, getting up from her seat before she wrapped her arm around Peter. "I'm sure he has a good reason for why he's late. You guys just never give him a chance to explain as usual."

Captain America just frowned and gave the go ahead to Sam to finally begin their briefing. Peter smiled in appreciation at Natasha, a smile she returned in kind as they sat down.

"You okay, Peter?" She whispered, not really paying attention to what Falcon was saying.

Their meetings almost always consisted of little more than discussing the latest intel on potential threats and then they made rough plans on how and who best to deal with it. Natasha wasn't sure why the others insisted for Peter to be here for these things when they didn't even let him join them on these missions most of the time.

Unless their assignment required all the help they could get, they always made him stay behind to help out around the compound...which was a mistake in her opinion.

Spider-Man nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for sticking up for me back there."

"I always will, Маленький паук...so what kept you so busy?"

Peter gave a brief explanation on what he'd been doing when they called him. By the time he finished, Natasha and Wanda, who'd long stopped paying attention to the meeting, were looking at him with impressed eyes.

"You stopped all those crimes in less than two hours? That's amazing, Peter." The Scarlet Witch praised.

He nonchalantly shrugged. "I guess. It was actually a pretty light evening today."

Black Widow couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's idea of a 'light evening.' Most heroes had trouble stopping two crimes, let alone twelve in the span of two hours. If only Steve and the others knew just how much Peter worked to keep the streets safe...perhaps then they wouldn't be so hard on him.

The meeting soon concluded and everyone left to tend to their own personal affairs. Peter headed to the break room for a drink. He hadn't drank anything since he rushed his way to the compound and his throat was parched. Natasha and Wanda decided to join him and they walked side by side. A SHIELD agent passed by them as they rounded a corner...and cursed something under her breath at the Scarlet witch before she continued on her way. It wasn't silent enough as Peter and Natasha heard anyways. Their fists clenched in anger when they saw the subtle hint of hurt in the young Sokovian's eyes.

Wanda managed to give them an apologetic smile before she left for her room in a hurry.

Peter and Natasha shared a worried look. "...I'll make sure she's okay."

"Alright." Black Widow nodded before her gaze turned cold. "I'm going to go find that bitch and give her a piece of my mind."

"Just don't kill her, okay?"

"No promises." She joked. Well, he hoped it was a joke at least.

Peter set the thought aside for later...Wanda's well-being was his utmost concern right now. Aside from Natasha, Thor, or Tony, she was the only other Avenger he got along with the most and they always did their best to look out for each other.

He knocked on the door to her room. "Wanda?"

There was a moment of silence before she replied. "...Come in."

Peter entered the room, where he saw the Scarlet Witch sitting on her bed...blankly staring at the Rubik's cube floating in mid-air courtesy of her telekinesis abilities.

"Are you okay?" He asked, quietly closing the door.

She nodded and gestured for him to take a seat beside her. "I'm alright. Sorry I ran off like that."

"Hey, you don't need to apologize. That woman was way out of line. I can't believe some of them still think of you as a bad guy."

"...It makes sense when you think about it." Wanda said with a shrug. "It wasn't too long ago when Pietro and I helped Ultron nearly succeed in destroying the world."

He scoffed. "That doesn't mean they should treat you like this. As far as I'm concerned, you've long made up for your mistakes. You're a good person and so was your brother. "

Wanda was touched that her best friend thought of her in such a positive light and she showed her appreciation by pecking a kiss on Peter's face. "Thank you. You're kind to say so."

"I'm only being honest."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I know...and I wish Steve and the others would stop treating you like you're a liability to us. I just don't understand why they give you such a hard time."

"I think it's because I'm the youngest here." Peter muttered, holding her close. "I once overheard Mr. Barton say I'm just a dumb kid who only knows how to play hero, not be one. Mr. Wilson said something similar...I just can't remember what it was exactly."

"What?" She looked at him in disbelief. "They can't be serious! Peter, you were a superhero even before the Avengers were formed. You have more experience than most of us when it comes to stopping crime. All we do is bust up arms-dealers and when you think about it, we only fight supervillains when they try to destroy the world. You go in to help save people from crazed idiots on a regular basis."

"That doesn't make what you guys do any less important, Wanda."

She smiled. "I know but if you ask me, I believe you're one of the greatest heroes in the world...and I'm glad to have you with us."

Peter's face blushed out of embarassment. He wasn't used to hearing such compliments at all but hearing Wanda's words gave his heart a rare warm and fuzzy sensation.

"Wow...um, thank you. I don't often have people talk about me in such a nice way."

Seeing the cute flustered expression on her best friend's face made her giggle. "I meant every word I said, Peter. Why the hell do they think you're a kid anyways? You're only three years younger than me."

"What's the age for a child to be considered an adult in Sokovia?"

"Eighteen...why?" She asked, confused by the odd question.

"Because the age of an adult starts at twenty one in the States and since I'm only eighteen, I'm still a minor in the eyes of the law here."

"Really?" Wanda blinked at this new bit of information. "Huh. Well, I see you as a mature young man and that won't ever change...even if you do look a bit younger than your actual age."

"I appreciate that." Peter chuckled, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Thank you."

Someone knocked on the door before it was slightly opened and the Black Widow peeked her head through. "Hey, you two. Mind if I come in?"

Wanda waved for her to enter. "Of course not."

Natasha came in and sat down in a chair facing the two youngest members of the Avengers. It was a minor struggle on her part to keep from smirking when she noticed how Peter was holding Wanda close in a supporting manner...they just looked so cute together.

"You didn't kill her, did you?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Nope. I just made sure she knew it wouldn't be wise to insult Wanda while I'm around."

"So you threatened her...nice."

Peter and Natasha gave each other high fives while Wanda just looked confused. "What are you two talking about?"

"Remember the dumb SHIELD agent who decided to insult you? Natasha went to go find her and verbally tear her a new one." He explained.

Her eyes widened as she turned to the Black Widow, who gave her a warm smile. "You're my friend, Wanda. No one gets away with hurting my friends."

"...Thank you." The young Sokovian gratefully whispered as she hugged Natasha.

Natasha held Wanda close for a moment before she pulled back but kept a gentle grip on her shoulders.

"Are you okay though? I know you can hear other people's thoughts and most of them don't...particularly think of you too favourably. If you want, I could have a word with Hill and see if we can't stop this dumb hostile attitude of theirs."

There was silence for a moment before Wanda smiled as she reached for both Peter's and Natasha's hands and gently squeezed.

"It's alright. Their opinions never mattered to me anyways. I can handle it...because I have you two to help me."

...

- Title and summary sucks, I know.

- It might seem like I'm making the Avengers look bad but that's not it. The majority of the team aren't exactly comfortable with the idea of a kid (at least from their point of view, Peter's a child.) risking his life to be a superhero and they just don't know how to react to it. You know those really strict parents who don't approve of a certain choice their child makes but they grudgingly accept their decision? It's kind of like that...not sure if that makes sense to anyone.

- I'm still on the fence about whether or not to keep this as a one shot, mostly due to a lack of time but I'll do my best to continue writing on this should you all wish to see more.