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The first time it happened was completely by accident.
It was a normal Thursday evening, most of the Avengers who weren't out on missions were lounging by the TV. Steve and Clint casually threw a ball back and forth, their catching methods growing more eccentric as time passed.
Peter was deep into a conversation with Tony about Karen's Instant Kill mode when it happened. They both exited the elevator, neither of them paying attention to the room around them. Still, Tony's semi-raised voice saying “better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it”, drew Clint's attention away from trying to catch the ball with his feet as he performed a handstand.
Steve, who was also distracted, momentarily forgot to hold back his strength as he threw the ball, looking past Clint and to the elevator.
“Clint!” He warned, but the archer didn't have time to react. The ball flew too fast, hitting Clint in the balls before ricocheting off him and heading directly for Peter and Tony.
Peter's hand snapped out, ripping the ball from its trajectory towards Tony's nose, and threw it back to Steve without ever looking away from Tony or stopping his heated reply.
He only stopped when he took notice of Tony freezing in place and seeing his shocked expression.
“What?” He asked, finally looking around. Steve was holding a ball and Clint was rolling around on the floor, groaning and holding his groin. He gave Clint a concerned look, but looked between Tony and Steve who were both staring at him wide eyed. “What is it?” He asked again, reaching up to his face to make sure nothing was on his face.
“You just stopped me from getting yet another black eye.” Tony blinked.
“I did?” Peter squeaked.
“Kid, you just caught and threw that ball without even looking at it.” Tony pointed at the ball Steve was now holding.
“Oh, cool. Didn't realise. ” He nodded.
“You didn't realise?” Steve asked incredulously, sharing a look with Tony and the now standing, although slightly hunched over, Clint. Peter shrugged.
“You know how I have this danger sense?” He asked, gesturing to his head.
“Yeah, your Peter Tingle.” Tony replied with a sly smirk.
“We do not call it that!” Peter glared. “But, yes. My body sometimes just reacts to it.”
“And you don't realise when it does?” Steve asked, his eyebrows drawn and nose scrunched. “Seems dangerous. We should probably train for that.”
“No, no, I normally notice and actively react, but if it's not a ‘real’ danger and my mind is elsewhere, I just kind of… don't?” He ended his sentence like a question, not entirely sure himself how it worked, but he had noticed a pattern.
“Your mind being elsewhere, like talking shop with Tony?” Steve gestured between them and Peter nodded.
“Yip.” He popped the p.
The moment Peter turned his back, Clint sent a smile to Steve, a plan already forming.
“Oh, this gives me ideas.” He rubbed his hands together like a cartoon villain. “Pass me my phone, I need to make a new group chat. And a betting pool.”
The second time it happened, it was to prove the concept and set the game rules.
Clint had created a new group chat that included all the Avengers and closely associated members, with the exclusion of Peter (of course) and Pepper (because she’d snitch on them).
The Tingle Wars
Current score:
Clint - 0
Nat - 0
Tony - 0
Steve - 0
Bruce - 0
Wanda - 0
Aim:
To see how much we can get Peter to catch without him noticing.
Rules:
1. Any item can be thrown (Bonus half points for size or obscurity?)
2. You must have at least one witness for your try to count (Or have video evidence)
3. Don’t get caught!
“So how does this work? Do we just throw something?” Wanda whispered.
“Essentially, yes.” Clint nodded, throwing the soft stress ball in his hands up a few times to check its weight.
“You don’t need to aim for him, just something in his vicinity that can either be damaged, or cause damage. However minor or obscure.” Tony added, peeking over the couch cushions at his intern, who was sitting at the kitchen counter on his laptop.
“And he just… won’t notice?” Bruce questioned. Tony shook his head.
“We need to make sure he’s really engrossed in whatever it is he’s doing.” He clarifies.
“When he spaces out or how he gets when he’s talking with Tony about his suit.” Nat added. Tony nodded.
They all sat in silence for a few moments, before Clint finally brought his hand up to throw.
“Wait!” Wanda called, halting him.
“What?” Clint hissed, glaring at her.
“How do we know he’s distracted enough? Isn’t his hearing really good?” She asked.
“That’s part of the game.” He rolled his eyes at her.
“And he’s currently editing Karen’s code, he’s almost guaranteed to be checked out right now and not paying any attention to any of us at the moment.” Tony confirmed.
Clint waited a second, eyeing Wanda to be sure she wasn’t going to say anything again. Before he pulled his arm back again and threw the ball. Everyone held their breath as it sailed towards the back of Peter’s head.
For a moment, it looked like he wasn’t going to catch it, but at the last possible moment his arm twisted around the back of his head and he caught it, a loud slapping sound ringing around the room.
They held their breath as he brought his arm back in front of him, waiting to see if he would notice. They barely breathed, Clint’s arm still extended from throwing the ball.
Peter’s arm rested against the table, occasionally giving the ball a squeeze as if he’d had it in his hand the whole time he had been sitting there. Wanda’s hand came to her mouth to stop herself from laughing as Clint raised both his arms above his head, letting out a quiet “Yes!”
They froze again as Peter moved to put the ball down, but he just began typing on his laptop with both hands. Everyone slowly turned back around to continue their movie as Clint updated their score board in their group chats pinned messages.
As the night went on, they laughed quietly amongst themselves as Peter would occasionally reach for the ball, fidgeting with it for a few minutes before continuing his work.
Hours later, when everyone had long left, Peter raised his arm to stretch them above his head. Popping his spine he let out a quiet groan as he began packing up his stuff.
“Hey, who’s ball is this?” He asked Tony, who was just taking his first sip of his freshly made coffee, The engineer snored a laugh, but didn’t answer verbally, just giving a shrug.
The Tingle Wars
Current score:
Clint - 1
Nat - 0
Tony - 0
Steve - 0
Bruce - 0
Wanda - 0
Aim:
To see how much we can get Peter to catch without him noticing.
Rules:
1. Any item can be thrown (Bonus half points for size or obscurity?)
2. You must have at least one witness for your try to count (Or have video evidence)
3. Don’t get caught!
It only took three days for the rules to be updated to ensure purposeful sabotage was not allowed. Clint and Wanda kept pulling Peter out of his moments of distraction seconds before they could throw their items. Peter hadn’t caught on to what was happening yet, but he was a sharp kid, it wouldn't have taken him long if things continued as they were, so the rules needed updating.
And thus, rule number four was made. ‘4. You cannot interfere with someone else's attempt’.
The Tingle Wars
Current score:
Clint - 2
Nat - 0
Tony - 1
Steve - 0
Bruce - 0
Wanda - 1
Aim:
To see how much we can get Peter to catch without him noticing.
Rules:
1. Any item can be thrown (Bonus half points for size or obscurity?)
2. You must have at least one witness for your try to count (Or have video evidence)
3. Don’t get caught!
4. You cannot interfere with someone else's attempt
It was a week later that Bruce scored his first point.
He had came up to Tony’s lab wanting the billionaires engineering input on one of his latest projects, when Tony motioned for him to stop talking and gestured towards Peter. Peter was currently elbow deep in one of the Iron-Man suits, grease coating his arms and face. Bruce quickly shook his head.
“Now is the perfect time!” Tony whisper shouted. “If you don’t throw something, I will.” He said, eyeing his workbench for something he could throw. His eyes lit up as he picked up a spool of copper wire.
“You can’t throw that.” Bruce hissed.
“Watch me.” Tony shot back as he reared his arm back to throw.
“Wait, wait, fine.” Bruce sighed as he pulled out an apple from his pocket.
“An apple? Seriously?” Tony raised an eyebrow, but he put the spool of copper wire down.
Bruce sighed heavily but just stood with the apple in his hand for far longer than necessary. He waited until Peter pulled out of the suit, one of his hands coming up to his chin, covering his face in more grease, as me muttered lowly to himself. After one last look at Tony, he pulled back his arm and threw the apple. It arches across the space between then, barely thrown with enough force to even reach the boy.
Just like always, his arm bent back at an unnatural angle to catch the object. His muttering never stopped, and his other hand never left his chin as me stared into the suits interior.
Tony clapped a hand on Bruces shoulder and opened his mouth to congratulate him, but the both froze when Peter brought the apple up to his mouth and took a bite. Bruce stared, slack jawed, but Tony let out a loud guffaw which caused Peter to finally turn around to face them.
“Dr Banner!” Peter smiled, bouncing over to them both, the apple with a single bite out of it still in hand.
“He’s just here to ask some engineer advice.” Tony said between giggles. Peter’s eyes bounced between them both for a moment before he brought the apple up to take another bite. Tony turned away so he could laugh into his fist.
Later that same day, the group once again updated the rules of the game.
The Tingle Wars
Current score:
Clint - 6.5
Nat - 2
Tony - 6.5
Steve - 2
Bruce - 1.5
Wanda - 5
Aim:
To see how much we can get Peter to catch without him noticing.
Rules:
1. Any item can be thrown (Bonus half points for size or obscurity?)
2. You must have at least one witness for your try to count (Or have video evidence)
3. Don’t get caught!
4. You cannot interfere with someone else's attempt
5. Bonus half point if he eats a thrown food item