Vance goes quiet for a moment, considering that. "I think that was the plan at one point. The fact that nobody can be a hero forever and I should have something to fall back on. Though you'll note that I don't have a degree." Because, honestly, the heroing DID get in the way. It was one reason why he and Angelica had taken a hiatus from the Avengers. "But there's also..."

He frowns, rubbing his fingers in a circle against Robbie's sleeve. "I still hear him sometimes. That voice at the back of my head, telling me that I need to be normal." There's no need to elaborate on who 'him' is, after all. Or was, really. "Even when I think I keep rejecting everything that he ever said, there's that little bit that keeps looking at everybody else and thinking that's what I SHOULD be trying to do." He sighs, looking upward. "That's one of the things that I've been working on with Dr. Ry'kerr. Trying to separate the things that I really want from what I was always told I should want. Maybe that means going back to school again one day. Maybe it means I don't." Vance shrugs. "Right now, it means living in a teleporting mountain with a bunch of people who tend to drive me crazy and..."

This is it. The moment of truth. "And my oldest friend, the one I would gladly face the end of the world fighting beside."

Maybe not quite.

"I may not be under any obligation, Robbie, but I want to be there. With you."