Shifter

As time passes, you become more accustomed to this whole ‘normal teenage kid’ life. School days fly by, and at night Peter teaches you the things you hadn’t understood in your classes – which are mostly things to do with math and science. Days have become a wonderfully normal routine: wake up, body curled into Peter; wander to the kitchen to get breakfast; tease May about her blush from texting Tony; inevitably rush to get dressed as you realize you’re running late; and get to class JUST as the bell rings. Some people might get bored of the same normal schedule over and over, but to you, NORMAL is exactly what you’ve been yearning for your whole life.

“Guys! You’re late again!” May calls from the kitchen, causing you to roll over and chuckle at Peter’s disgruntled sleepy face. You slowly pull yourself up, yawning as you slide out of bed to grab your clothes. Unfortunately, you barely even stand up before Peter’s hand snakes out of bed and grabs your arm, tugging you back in.

“Pete…” You groan, giggling, as you try to get out of bed. “We gotta go…” You try to convince him, twisting around, but he pulls you in tighter.

“Nuh uh.” He mutters, and you sigh.

“Fine. 5 minutes.”

He smiles, leaning back, and a small smirk forms on your lips as you get an idea. You roll over, facing him, and let yourself shift into Tony, face only inches from Peter’s. When he finally opens his eyes, he squeals, shoving himself back and off the bed, and you laugh and turn back into yourself. “Good. You’re up.” You smile triumphantly, grabbing your clothes and marching triumphantly out of the room as Peter groans behind you.

Standing in the bathroom, you start to put on your jeans when a pain blossoms in your stomach, causing you to groan and double over. When you stand up again, eyes wide, you look in the mirror to find your nose bleeding. But this is starting to get better! I shouldn’t be – You’re knocked out of your thoughts by the sound of May banging on the bathroom door.

“Breakfast!” She calls, and you hastily wipe away the blood and try to get dressed. Once you’re dressed, the day commences as usual – you and Peter dance around May in the kitchen, grabbing pieces of fruit and toast before hurrying out of the door to get to school on time.

“Y/N!” May calls, and you skid to a stop. “The office needed a last name for you, and I didn’t know what to put, so Tony told me to put Rogers. Is that right?” She asks, and a small smile spreads on your face.

“That’s perfect.”

When you finally make it to school, Peter darts off to grab a book from his locker, but you run straight for class. You manage to get to AP Physics just as the bell rings, and you sigh as you flop down into your desk next to Peter’s.

“Mr. Parker… How kind of you to finally join us.” Your teacher, Mr. Simms, drawls, watching Peter stumble through the door at the last second.

“Sorry, sir.” He says, making a face at you before going to sit down. Mr. Simms just raises an eyebrow, watching Peter sit down, before turning to the board and writing down ‘The partial differential equation that describes how the quantum state of a quantum system changes with time is…’ Your eyebrows furrow as you realize you recognize the topic – one of the perks of learning science from Tony is that you only learn the insanely advanced stuff.

“Does anyone have any idea what this equation is?” Mr. Simms asks, and you hesitantly raise your hand.

“Ms. Rogers?” He says, eyebrows raising, and you gulp.

“Uh, that’s Schrödinger’s equation, sir.” Out of the corner of your eye you catch everyone else in the class with confused expressions on their face, and you smile slightly.

“Well, Ms. Rogers, would you mind writing it down for us?” He asks, holding out the chalk, and you nod, standing up and taking it from his hand. You write down all that you can remember, hand flying across the board as you write all the variants of the equation – the time dependent equation, the independent one, etc. When you’re done, you turn around to find everyone in the class staring at you with a shocked expression.

You sit down, cheeks flushed, as Peter gapes at you. “How did you know that?” He whispers, leaning over to your desk, and you just shrug.

The rest of the day seems to fly by, but you can’t help but continue to feel super proud of yourself at your achievement. At lunch, Peter introduces you to his best friend, Ned, and they start babbling about where Peter was when he left and what happened, and you get lost in your train of thought – that is, until Michelle plops down next to you. “So, Peter’s cousin, huh?” She asks, and you manage to shake your head.

“Uh, no, I’m not – he just didn’t know what to say.” You explain, and she quirks an eyebrow.

“Good, because I was about to call incest on that one.” She nudges you and you splutter, eyes wide.

“Excuse me?” You manage, and she chuckles.

“Everyone can tell that you two are crushing on each other – if you guys had been cousins, that would have been a little weird.”

You start denying it, but before you can say much Peter has caught Michelle’s attention. “What’re you talking about?” He asks, and she smirks, and gets up.

“Talk to you later, okay Y/N?” She says, and leaves, leaving a baffled Peter in her wake.

“What was that?” He asks again, and you shrug, a small blush leftover on your cheeks. “I’m gonna grab my books – see you in English?” Peter says, eyes flicking over to the clock, and you nod, clearing up your tray and heading to class. Not a few moments later, though, a sharp pain strikes your head, and you rush to the bathroom to find your nose bleeding again – only this time, the blood is a deep red, almost black, and it takes a few minutes for you to stop it. When you finally do, you let out a shaky breath, throwing away the soaked tissues and giving yourself a moment to recompose.

Luckily, when you finally look up, you’re still yourself in the mirror – not Tony, not Steve, not your mother. You brush a wisp of hair off your face, smooth your jacket, and leave, heading to English, where Michelle swoops in and sits next to you, causing you to smile. The lesson continues, then you have Math, then finally, it’s the end of the day. You head home with Peter, distracted by your thoughts of the nosebleeds, but try to convince him that everything is fine when he starts asking questions. He doesn’t seem at all convinced, but he leaves the topic, opting instead to interrogate you about how you knew the formula, and what other stuff you know.

When you get home, however, a familiar pair of voices float out into the hallway, and you freeze, a smile spreading on your face as Tony and Steve saunter out from the living room. You squeal, launching yourself at Steve first, then Tony, enveloping them in hugs.

“Guys!” You shout, and Steve chuckles. “What’re you doing here?” You ask, and Tony smirks, pulling a small bottle out of his pocket.

“I did it. One dosage of this should do it.” He says, and your eyes widen.

“Is that – the serum?” You ask, and he nods, causing you to hug him again. Steve shushes you, though, as May walks out from the kitchen smiling.

“Isn’t it nice they came to visit?” She says, and your eyes narrow as you take in her nice dress and Tony’s fancy suit.

Steve notices your face and explains. “Tony is taking May out for dinner.” He says, and Peter’s jaw drops.

“S-Sorry?” He asks, and you stifle a giggle, as Steve wraps an arm around you.

“C’mon kids, let’s leave them to it.” He says, tugging you and Peter away, but just before Tony leaves he slips Steve the bottle, winking at you before escorting May out of the apartment.

“It’s drinkable – no needles, luckily.” Steve explains, handing you the bottle, and you square your shoulders, grabbing it and holding it up to the light.

“You sure this will work?” You ask, and he nods, so you uncap it and down the contents in one. It burns going down, like the one time Clint convinced you to drink Natasha’s vodka, but the second the burn is gone, you instantly feel better. When you turn to find Peter, he’s still gaping at the door, eyes wide.

“Will someone please tell me why the hell Aunt May and Mr. Stark just went out on a DATE?”