I'll Love You from Afar...

Decathalon Travels

"Alright, you two ready for a virtual stakeout?" Ned and I nodded and she sat up pulling things out of her bag. She pulled out a bunch of chip bags and threw them at me. And then she threw a few water bottles and threw them to Ned.

"What no soda?" He asked.

"Soda's bad for this type of thing, the acid is too aggressive on the stomach and if Peter needs to go out and get rough it doesn't show up with the best results. Trust me I learned that the hard way." Wow, could it be that Y/N actually cares for dietary issues? That's new. She pulled out a bag of Lays Originals, "Do you mind if I...?" She motioned to her chips then the bed she was sitting on.

"Yeah totally, I don't sleep up there anyway," I confirmed, and turned to the plenty of variety of chip bags laid out in front of me.

***

A few hours later we were all sleepily staring at the device's projection; Y/N was flattening and folding her chip bag and Ned was lazily staring at the technology in front of him.

"Staten Island." He said.

"Brooklyn to Staten Island." Y/N yawned, throwing her folded chip bag in my direction and hitting me square in the forehead. It caught me by surprise, causing me to fall off my ceiling. She quickly shot up from her lying position and jumped off the top bunk. "Oh my God, are you ok?"

"Yeah yeah I'm fine." I groaned in pain, she still checked my head for any bumps and had FRIDAY analyze me. Then she went back up to her spot and lied down.

***

"Leaving Jersey," Ned whispered, turning back to the Death Star. Y/N had fallen asleep an hour ago and we didn't want to wake her. I looked up to the top bunk where she was sleeping, I could see her face turned in our direction, she was very... how do I say this... pretty... when she was asleep. Peter no. That's not going to happen, alright? Well I mean it could happen, there's no rule against it. I should ask Ned. He'll know what to do.

"Hey, um, Ned," I whispered, he turned his head to me. "What do you know about Y/N?"

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"Like, I don't know, does she like anyone?"

"No, no, no, no, do not tell me you're considering dating Y/N," He dictated.

"Well, why not? I mean we know each other really well and our personalities click. Not to mention she's the only person I feel comfortable talking to."

"It's like what I said in seventh grade, remember?"

"That she'll never forgive me if I ruin what we have... I just don't understand why I mean she wouldn't just drop me because of some silly feelings," I grumbled, still gazing up at the girl.

"Look Peter, girls like that," He pointed up at her, "never date guys like you and me. I mean she's smart, funny, rich, and pretty. You're..."

"I'm what?"

"Smart? And ok-looking. But that's why you should like Liz," He finished.

"Liz and her have the same traits, how does that make any sense?" Sometimes Ned sounded like he was speaking gibberish. This was one of those times.

"The difference is that Y/N knows what she wants, when she wants it, and will never settle for less. Liz is a people pleaser surrounded by jerks, you're a refreshing person to be around." I guess that did kind of make sense, Y/N marched to her own drummer, and she doesn't fall easily into peer pressure. That's probably because she grew up with all these strong personalities surrounding her, so in order to get a word in she tries to stand out. And I admire her for that. She's not necessarily an attention seeker, she's just heard when she wants to be heard.

"But what if-"

"No "what if's". I said what I said, and besides, we need to work on this mission." That's when the maps started beeping. Y/N jumped awake, causing her to fall off the top bunk. Ned and I both stifled snickers as she got up.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks for asking," She groaned, a string of curses quietly following.

"They stopped," Ned coughed.

"Maryland?" I mumbled.

"What's there?" He asked, cocking his head a bit to the side.

"I mean, I don't know," I scoffed, "Evil lair?"

"They have a lair?"

"Dude, a gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yes, they have a lair." Y/N reached over and grabbed my mask that was engulfing Ned's head.

"Badass... but how are you gonna get there if it's like 300 miles away?" She asked. Ned nodded, and we all looked toward my Decathlon poster, it had the photo of the Capital.

"It's not too far from DC..." Y/N mumbled.

***

The next day I ran to catch the Decathlon bus before it left so I could ask Mr. Harrington for my spot back.

"Hey, it's Peter." Abraham pointed. Everyone's head turned toward me and my social anxiety was going through the roof. But I had to stand my ground, how else was I going to become an Avenger?

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team?"

"No, no way." Flash walked up to me. "You can't just quit on us, stroll up and be welcomed back by everyone." Flash was right, who am I kidding? Mr. Harrington would never-

"Hey welcome back Peter! Flash you're back to first alternate." Mr. Harrington emerged from the bus, smiling.

"What?" Flash repulsed.

"He's taking your place," the exchange student said. Then we all heard a short but loud 'HA' coming from the back of the group. In that direction, I saw Y/N with her hand over her mouth shaking her head and struggling to keep a straight face.

"Sorry sorry," she raised a hand chuckling, "it's not funny," she snickered, at a bit of a loss for breath.

"Yeah, it's not Stark," Flash said, balling up his Decathlon jacket and throwing it at me, then mounting the bus. The group kept looking at Y/N, she didn't say anything, trying to force back a smile. Once Flash was out of sight she looked at us.

"What? Come on, we gotta go make sure Flash can keep his position as first alternate. Would hate it if he got demoted AGAIN." She said climbing onto the bus. We all laughed a bit before Michelle stopped us.

"Excuse me can we go already? I was hoping to do some light protesting in front of the embassies before dinner, so."

"Protesting is patriotic, everyone on the bus," Mr. Harrington said, and pointed towards the bus.