Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Nils is saying this looks like a record harvest year."

Thor looked up at Valkyrie where she was lounging in his office doorway. "He says that every year."

She lifted a shoulder. "Harvest gets better every year."

"Well, that's better than the opposite." He stretched his arms over his head and stood, coming around the desk to kiss her. "Are you here to drag me home for the evening?”

“Yes I am,” she replied, deftly nudging him over the threshold. A year ago they’d conceded the need to have more workspace—for more staff—and moved the colony operations out of the office on the first floor of his house and into its space attached to the meetinghouse. “I’ve been listening to people talk about organic fertilizer for two hours and am done.”

He chuckled. "Ah, the glamorous life of a queen." He tucked an arm around her. "Let's go home. I'll grill up those steaks we have in the fridge.”

They just reached their front porch when Thor’s phone started to ring. Val's head tipped back as if she was already seeing her evening slip away. Thor held out a moment of hope that it might be nothing, right up until he saw the California area code.

"This is Thor," he said in greeting.

“Hi, it’s Sam.” Definitely not nothing. Valkyrie sighed and opened their front door while Sam spoke. “We’ve got a big wildfire burning in one of the national parks. We’re here helping evacuate campers and hikers. It’s not anywhere near populated areas, but this thing is so big and moving so fast it’s making it’s own weather. There’s a…” Sam seemed to lower the phone, but Thor could hear him asking, “What did you call that thing again?”

Vision came on the line. “It’s generating an electrified pyrocumulonimbus cloud going 15 kilometers up into the stratosphere. It’s generating fire tornados and it’s own lighting.”

Thor didn't like messing with nature more than he had to. A planet’s ecosystems were vastly complicated and interconnected, and he’d learned when he was young not to try and do things like move hurricanes—no matter who asked. And forests, in general, needed to burn. He didn’t go put them out unless they threatened populated areas. But this was…concerning.

"I don't believe I've ever seen that before," he admitted.

"It's very rare," Vision agreed. "Fires can rarely get this large and swift without risking populations so a fire this size hasn't been studied."

"Right. Well, I'll come out and see what I can do. See you soon.”

“Thank you.”

He hung up and kissed Valkyrie's temple. "Big fire causing its own weather system. No lives or homes at stake. Shouldn't take long.”

She put her arms around his waist and squeezed. “Save journey. Tell them I said hello.”

"I will." He kissed her again and reached out his hand, calling Stormbreaker to him. They had a spot out behind their house that he customarily used to call the Bifrost. It scorched the earth, so it was good to have a designated area.

He had a matching spot at HQ in California, but in this case he’d been texted coordinates for a spot in the middle of a road that someone must have decided was safely clear of the bifrost interacting with the fire. Else it would send a blast of heat and smoke back through to New Asgard.

It still looked pretty apocalyptic. The air was smoky, ash fell like rain, and the sky was orange. There was a vehicle waiting for him, idling a dozen yards up the otherwise deserted road—a boxy fluorescent yellow truck with huge tires.

He lifted a hand and hiked up the road towards it. He actually had to climb into it, it was that high. The team’s driver, Katy, waved brightly at him. "Does anyone have a preference how I put it out?” he asked as he pulled the door shut.

“You gotta talk to Sam and them, I’m just here to drive the Tonka Truck.” She made a u-turn with a radius he didn’t think a truck like this could do. “It’s a really, really big fire. Everyone is here. They’ve been airlifting out hikers and campers from all over the park. Because of the pyro-whatever cloud helicopters can’t go up. So now it’s just our fliers. I think they should have called you earlier, but hey, I don’t make decisions.”

"I believe Sam thinks of me as a last resort even in this sort of thing." He watching the forest through the windshield and was impressed she could see well enough to navigate at all. "I try not to mess with natural phenomena, unless lives are in danger.”

The smoke got thicker, and she pulled up a mask she had hanging around her neck. The sky to the left took on a glow and he knew they were getting closer to the fire. “It’s getting that bad. There’s a lake inside the perimeter the fire surrounded that has like 20 campers stuck standing in the water. Shaun’s out there flinging lake water at anything that gets too close. He’s fireproof with the rings on but I don’t think he wants to do it all day.”

The Avengers had a few members who were effectively fireproof, by nature or by equipment. Vision was vibranium. Wanda built energy shields. Carol, when she was around, was indestructible. Doc had specific fireproof suit these days, as did…

Thor couldn't remember the other person. He went through his mental list of the team, any of whom probably could have had said suit, but was not who he was thinking of. Though he had no image or memory of an additional person. Yet he was just as convinced there was someone else who had a fireproof suit.

Thor had been a warrior for centuries, many of them as a leader. He did head counts on instinct, prided himself on knowing who was in the field with him. And so he went through his mental list of team members again until Katy pulled over at a cluster of tents the local emergency responders had set up.

Shaking off the odd feeling, he climbed out and went inside the tent to find Barnes running ops. “Hey,” he called. “Sam’s doing evac,” he added by way of explanation. “Thank you so much for coming so quickly.”

“It’s no trouble. You’re not fireproof, are you?”

He chuckled. “Ah, no. Some of my arms are, but the connectors are wired into my nervous system, and it’ll hurt. When Amanda’s around you can ask her for her soliloquy on the protective value of pain.” He inclined his head. “Come meet the Fire Guys.”

Barnes took him over and introduced him to some people from CalFire and the Forrest Service, who knew something about how the fire weather behaved. It ended up being a very tricky fix and he was there most of the day, making small rainstorms pushing in from the perimeter. The air was so dry he was pulling atmospheric moisture all the way from over the pacific and it was probably screwing up the weather all over California.

Evacuating the lake was was particularly time consuming, as they had to do one at a time. Thor had a memory of doing an evacuation during a fire—a high rise fire, in that case—where one of the team members made some sort of net, and they carried people out that way. Just like with the fireproof suit, he couldn’t remember who.

It was the equivalent of having a word stuck on the tip of your tongue. Fighting the fire took up most of his attention, but he worried at the thought in the back of his mind, teasing out any other information.

Stark had lots of suits, but he had retired before the fire fighting. He tried to think of other moments that had a missing person in them.

He thought about asking Doc when he ran into her. She’d been with the team the longest of everyone there. But he was a little concerned that if he asked anyone who knew him, they’d ask if he was drinking again. It sounded crazy. Felt a little crazy, too.

By the time the fire was finally under control, he was exhausted. It was two in the morning in Norway. Maybe it was the tired. Maybe he’d remember in the morning.

He accepted the thanks given to him, made his goodbyes, and called the bifrost to go home. The house was dark, his wife long asleep. He started up the stairs, and a picture hanging on the wall stopped him. It was the team and their families at his and Valkyrie’s wedding. Everyone had posed together for a photo. And there was…a gap. Between the Starks and the Bartons there was a young woman Thor recognized but didn’t know why, with a noticeable empty space to her left. In Natasha’s arms, baby Lada was looking at and reaching toward the space as if something or someone was there.

It made him feel more and less crazy. Clearly someone was missing. But why and how was a mystery.

Taking the picture off the wall he went the rest of the way upstairs to the bedroom and sat on the bed, touching Valkyrie's hip to assure himself she, at least, was real.

She stirred, eyes still closed. “Mmm, I can smell the smoke.” Then she opened them and looked at him. “What time is it?”

"About two thirty," he said. "I'm sorry, it was very finicky work and the fire was enormous.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, turning onto her back sitting up, clearly seeing something on his face. “Are you okay?”

He tilted his head, trying to think of the least crazy way to phrase this. "I think I've forgotten someone and I don't know who.”

She blinked. “You…forgot someone?”

"The whole time in California I thought someone was missing. I remembered someone had a fireproof suit but when I tried to think who it was I couldn't. I had almost convinced myself it was a trick of the brain. Some form of what human's call deja vu. But then. . . " He showed her the picture. "There's a gap in the picture.”

Val leaned over and turned on the light so she could look at it better. She frowned. “I know that woman, but I don’t know why. Is she on the team?”

"She's not. I also think I know her, but I can't recall her name or where I met her.”

“It’s Michelle,” she said, sounding surprised she knew that. “I flew Moonstone to New York city and met her on a sidewalk. Her and another woman.” Valkyrie frowned. “Why did I do that?”

He shook his head "I have no idea. Why would you fly so far out of your way to meet two strange women?”

“I don’t know.” She looked back down at the picture. “This feels…fishy. In the way my other-timeline-memory dreams felt fishy.”

"I agree." Thor hadn't had first hand experience with reorganized memories like she had. But he knew magic when he saw it and this had all the hallmarks of a spell. He could have excused himself having strange memories. Both of them unable to remember, plus the photograph was enough to convince him this needed to be addressed. "I need a shower and sleep. But after that I think we should pay my sister-in-law a visit.”

“Sounds good,” she said, leaning up to kiss him. “Go shower, you smell like a campfire.”

"Yes dear." He stood and set the photograph on the night stand before heading to the shower.

*

"I think we need to move Grievances Day back a week. Loki want to open the new theater that week and I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle."

Hilde nodded and made a note. "I'll talk to the farmer's guild to make sure that still works with their harvest schedule."

"And coordinate with Declan about the ground breaking on the new port." She gathered up her things as Hilde made more notes. "And I am off for the rest of the afternoon to have a date with my husband."

"I'll make sure no one interrupts you."

Syn's mouth was open to thank her when a rainbow light blazed outside her window. "Was Thor scheduled to visit today."

"Not on my calendar," Hilde replied, with an arched brow.

"Seven hells," Syn muttered. "That's never good.”

“Shall I have someone go get the King?” Hilde asked.

"Yes, please. I imagine whatever brings his brother here he'll need to be involved." She set her stuff down and went out to the main hall to meet Thor.

He’d brought Valkyrie with him, and they both looked concerned. Enough no one beat around the bush. “There may have been another spell messing with the timelines,” Valkyrie said.

Syn sighed and gestured for them to follow her to a private parlor. "I haven't noticed any inconsistencies here. Tell me what your concerns are.”

“We have a matching gap in our memories,” Thor said. “There seems to be a missing member of the Avengers, that we knew but has been…erased. Somehow.”

"I don't know the roster well," she said, letting them into her blue parlor. "But if I can help, I will."

Thor and Valkyrie took a seat on the couch together and Thor held out a framed photo from his wedding. "Do you know who that girl is?"

He was pointing at the pretty dark-skinned girl in the front row next to Tony Stark. "That's MJ," she said immediately. "Peter's girlfriend. I talked to her at the wedding, she was lovely. Tried to take to me in letting her visit my library but Loki-" She stopped and frowned, taking the photo from him. "Where is Peter? He was standing next to her.”

“Seems we have identified the missing person,” Valkyrie said.

"I can't imagine someone erasing Peter. Everyone loves him."

The door to the side opened and Loki stepped in. Syn waved the photo at him. "Do you remember Peter from Thor's wedding? Young Midgardian, very smart. Discussed hard light holograms with you?”

Loki tilted his head, frowning. “I’m sorry, no.”

Peter had been at the battle with Thanos, too. His superhero persona was very…distinct.

She looked between the three of them. "Honestly, how do you go through life knowing at any moment someone can just rearrange your brain?”

“I still don’t know how you go about your life never being able to lie,” Loki muttered.

“Okay,” Thor said. “So there was this Peter. And he was erased. You remember him for the same reason you remember the five years, but nobody else does.”

"So it seems." She handed him the frame. "It's magic, but sloppy. They erased the memory of him but not the impact he had on people. So you remember his role in the team and there's space for him in the photograph even though you can't put a finger on who it was. I imagine somewhere in your house there's a wedding gift from him but you wouldn't be able to remember who gave it to you."

"Midgardian magic," Loki scoffed. "They never think through the impact of their spells."

Thor tilted his head. "So there's ways to erase someone without leaving these. . . clues?"

"Of course." Syn took a seat. "Your father managed to erase everyone's memory of Hela without leaving any trace. It didn't break until he died. Like Loki said, this is a spell with a very limited frame work and no consideration for the impact it would have.”

“Did he die?” Valkyrie asked. “And maybe someone removed his memory so people wouldn’t be sad? The only person other than the two of you I can think who could do something like that is Wanda. I can’t believe there’d be anything malicious.”

"There's not much I can tell from here. If we could find where the spell was cast or find Peter I'd have a better idea.”

“Now that we know who he is, you think Heimdal could find him?” Valkyrie asked.

"Possibly. I'm not sure how his sight works. The spell could affect it.”

“If it was Wanda who did it,” Thor said. “HQ is the most likely location. We could start there.”

Syn got to her feet. "I'll tell Hilde and Colm we'll be off realm for a while. Do you have anything pressing to attend to?" she asked Loki.

“Certainly nothing more interesting than this.”

And, so, twenty minutes later they were riding the Bifrost down to earth, landing on a patch of gravel near an airstrip. Thor's wedding had been in Norway, in New Asgard, which was the only place on Midgard Syn had ever been. It was warmer and browner here, but she could catch the scent of salt water that reminded her of home.

"We'll go to the main building," Thor said, leading them off the airstrip. "FRIDAY can have Wanda meet us and I can catch the rest of the team up on the issue.”

The bifrost was very noticeable, and she could see people coming out of some of the buildings and waving as they walked.

Thor waved in return, as did Valkyrie. Next to Syn, Loki was tense, but still moving forward. Midgard in general and the Avengers in particular made him nervous. They knew he was alive and he and Thor had mended their relationship, because they'd all attended the wedding. For the most part the team was cordial, most of the people who had fought Loki directly had retired. For those that remained an explanation of the things Thanos had done to him, plus the assurance that Syn would keep him in line seemed to be enough. They were never going to be invited to team parties, but no one was likely to shoot him on sight either.

Their healer, a tall woman with a scarred face, reached them first and Thor hugged her. "This is unexpected, is everything okay?”

“I do not believe so, no,” he said seriously.

She glanced behind him at Syn and Loki and her brows went up. "I see it’s serious."

"We have reason to believe someone had been meddling with magic," Syn offered. "And caused you all to forget a teammate."

"Is Wanda here?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, I think she's upstairs helping Violet with some paperwork.”

“How about we all go inside?” Valkyrie suggested. “I think we’ll need Lani as well, if she’s around.”

Syn moved with the pack, gently letting out tendrils of magic to see if she felt any remnants of the spell. There was magic in the air, both active and residual. She imagined some of it was because there were so many people here who had to be effected by it. As they got deeper into the building she could feel another magic user in the building, flaring like neutron star. Loki's intake of breath indicated he felt them as well.

The healer—Amanda—took them to a conference room, and before she could even turn to go, Wanda appeared. They had definitely met her at the wedding—she was very noticeable—but her magic seemed particularly stirred up at the moment.

She made eye contact with Syn, clearly remembering her from the wedding. "What's going on?"

"Someone erased a team member from everyone's memories," she explained. "I presume it wasn't you?”

Wanda recoiled a little. No! It came as a thought sent right into Syn’s mind.

Syn flinched a little, putting a hand on her head. "Emphatic, but honest. Unfortunately, that leaves us with no clues at all.”

“Someone was erased from people’s memories?” Wanda asked. “I…might be able to see that.”

Amanda waved her hands. "Nope. Stop. No mind melding till we get the rest of the team here and start from the beginning. Everyone sit while I round people up."

They all obediently sat, even Thor and Loki. Syn had to hide a smile.

“Doc is very specific,” Wanda said with a shrug.

"I like her," Syn said. "Very no nonsense."

The rest of the team trickled in. They had met all of them at the wedding, though some had been literally only an introduction, while others had been longer conversations. They only one she didn't know were two new members introduced and Shangqi and Katy. "He was the one who caused the inter-dimensional energy/magic a while back," Thor explained. Loki tilted his head. “I don’t sense anything,” he said, sounding very…Loki. The guy paused in the middle of pulling out a chair to flick his wrists a little, causing the bracelets on them to clink and glow and suddenly the echo of magic was so loud it drowned out Wanda entirely.

"Happy now?" Syn asked her husband.

He didn't dignify that with a response and Sam, the team leader, said, "Okay. Why are we here?"

Thor started, explaining his odd feeling on their last mission, and Valkyrie's memory of going to Queens and meeting two women for no apparent reason. He handed the wedding photo around and Syn could see the realization and confusion on people's faces as the looked at it.

"That's when I went to speak with Syn and Loki. Syn's truth curse prevents her from forgetting things through magic."

"More specifically, I cannot be forced into remembering a lie," she said. "I remember a young man named Peter. He was very smart and well-loved by everyone. I can see why he left a large enough hole to be missed.”

“And someone erased him?” Sam asked. “Why?

"No idea. We had thought perhaps he died and Wanda had erased him to ease people's pain, but she's adamant she didn't do it."

"I don't think the spell was cast near here," Loki offered. "Though sloppily done, it's must have taken a massive amount of magic to do. There would be residual power left over for months and I don't feel any. Just the wisps left behind by your sorceress's daily use.”

“What kind of power are we talking about?” Barnes asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “And who has it?”

Syn and Loki exchanged a look. "If I were doing one-" she began.
He shook his head. "Different methodology, we have to assume this person wouldn't have to work around the curse."

"Fair point. When you did the one on Odin-"

"Eh, that was more of a general brain fog. One mind, memory manipulation."

"There's definitely manipulation, but it was done on a universal scale. You forgot and you haven't been on Midgard since the wedding."

"And it effected Thor in Norway."

She snapped her fingers. "Time manipulation? No one is missing any days."

Loki turned and looked at Thor. "Are you all still in contact with that charlatan in New York who found Father for us?”

“Strange?” Amanda asked.

“He had an infinity stone,” Thor said. “Which he lost to Thanos. I don’t think he has that kind of power without it.”

"He had some innate power," Loki said. "Hard to tell what was him and what was the stone."

Syn looked over at Wanda. "You said you might be able to find memory gaps in people's head's. If there was a way for you to show me what you see I might be able to get an impression of the magic used.”

“Probably,” she said with a nod. “I would need a volunteer.”

“I’ll do it,” Sam said immediately.

Wanda stood and moved beside him and Syn got up to follow. Loki had that look that meant he thought she was putting herself in danger and wanted to protest but knew better. He even resisted following her and hovering, which she made a mental note to praise him for later.

Slowly, Wanda moved her fingers, a trickle of red magic moving from one hand up to Sam’s temple, and then from the other over to Syn.

Syn didn't know what it looked like to the other woman. Mind manipulation wasn't her kind of magic. She had the impression of a large void, clearly representing the missing memories. Syn explored the edges of it, gathering information on the tools that had created it. In the process, she saw glimpses inside the void, brief flashes of Peter and Sam's memories of him.

After a moment, Wanda dropped her hands. "There's definitely gaps in his memory going back years."

"What did you see?" Loki asked Syn as she went to sit again.

"It's definitely Midgardian, all power, no polish. There's also a sense of multiple spells layered on top of one another. I strongly suspect the blanket forgetting is clean up after an attempt at something more sophisticated that failed.”

“Sam’s memories are really muddy,” Wanda said. “I need some of that magic cleared out before I can actually unearth them—but I think they make be there.” She looked down the table at Valkyrie. “Yours I can probably get out the easiest, I know where I’m going in your head.”

Valkyrie chuckled a little. “Indeed you do. Yeah, go ahead.”

While Wanda was getting up and moving to the other end of the table, Amanda asked, “FRIDAY, can you find any record of a Peter Parker, anywhere?”

“There’s no record of that name anywhere,” a voice replied from nowhere.

“That’s statistically impossible,” Katy said. “Even without him, those are very common names. Someone, somewhere has combined them. Were they all erased?”

“Well,” Loki muttered, “We’ve wandered all the way into hamfisted, haven’t we?”

"The good news," Syn said. "Is I got enough of Sam's memories I think I can do a finding spell to locate the one we're looking for." She put a hand on Loki's arm to help magnify her power and flicked her fingers, sending out a shower of gold sparks. They zipped around the room a moment before escaping through every open door and window, hunting.

“Do we have to chase it?” Scott asked.

"No, no. When they find him, I'll know. It may just take a minute, your realm is larger than mine."

"They like the word planet," Thor offered.

She lifted a shoulder. Midgard was on the Tree, which made it a realm as far as Syn was concerned. Even if it was more than twenty times larger than Alfheim. It was smaller than Svartalfheim. Size had nothing to do with it.

The finding spell tugged at her and she turned her head. "Ah. He's in New York."

Loki leaned over to address his brother. "Would you care to make a wager about whether or not Strange is involved?"

Sam flattened a hand on the table and started to stand. "Right, I'll get the jet ready-"

"No need." Syn stood. She'd worn her normal clothes here, since no one on the team would be surprised — and had no leg to stand on in critiquing fashion. But if she was going to New York she should probably dress like a local. With a shimmer of gold, her gown changed to a sweater and jeans. "I'll be right back."

She stepped to the side and found herself in the hallway of an apartment building. Her locator sparks were clustered around a particular door. She dissipated them and knocked on said door.

Chapter Text

Peter stared warily at the door, not sure who could be knocking. He hoped it wasn’t the neighbors hearing him inside, knowing May was in the hospital, and coming to check. Or the police.

No, the police banged. This was a very polite knocking. He went to the peep hole and looked out. The woman was familiar and it took him a moment to place her. That was…Thor’s sister-in-law? Was she here looking for May? Peter was very confused. She knocked again, and so he responded, “Yeah?”

She smiled widely. "Hello, Peter Parker. Do you remember me?”

Startled, he fumbled with the locks. Suddenly his hands were shaking. Then he yanked open the door and stared at her. “You remember me?”

"Yes," she said kindly. "I have a truth curse. I can't forget the truth or be made to remember a lie, no matter what magic is used. Thor realized he had gaps in his memory and came to ask me about it." She propped a hand on her hip. "Have you run afoul of some incompetent magic?”

“You have no idea,” he said, so excited to have someone actually know him that he reached out and hugged her.

He could feel her surprise. But before he could let go and apologize — wasn't she royalty or something? — her arms came around and held him tight.

"Don't worry, dear boy," she said, cupping the back of his head and petting his hair. "We'll fix it. I promise.”

He took a shuddery breath. “It’s been a really shitty week.”

"I can only imagine. Your team is waiting back in California to hear what happened. Are you ready to go?”

“Did you fix them?” he asked, heart in his throat. “And if you’re doing that, I have a girlfriend. And my best friend. And my aunt, they’re not Avengers, but-”

"Slow down. I haven't fixed anyone, because I need to understand more about the magic that was used. But they are all aware they knew you and their memories were messed with. Wanda confirmed it and was trying to untangle Valkyrie's memories when I left." She rubbed his arm and gave it a little squeeze. "I know it will be hard to see them not remembering you, but if you come tell us the whole story it will help us figure out the best way to fix it.”

Peter cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. “I will happily come do that.”

She gave him that same kind smile. "Brave boy." She held out a hand, which he took. "Close your eyes. I'm told mortals find it a little unsettling."

He closed them instinctively. "Find what-" There was a gentle rush of air, the vague sense of movement, then he was . . . standing somewhere different. The smell of industrial cleaner and whiteboard ink hit his nose and he opened his eyes to find himself standing in the conference room at the Avengers compound.

It was so disorientingly familiar, he almost laughed. And there were all of them around the table, looking at him like he was a stranger. He offered an awkward, “Hi. I’m, uh, Peter.”

"Spider-Kid!" Valkyrie said brightly.

Wanda waved. "Hi. I got her memories back. Mostly. There's a lot of residual magic to pick through.”

“Hi Valkyrie,” Peter said as he sat in one of the chairs. He waved at the rest of the table. “I know who you guys all are.”

There was a round of awkward waves and nods.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Syn asked.

He sighed. “MJ and I were having some problems—that’s my girlfriend, I guess you don’t know her?”

“We all do,” Wanda said. “None of us know why.”

“Well, I’m why. And I’m why all this happened. We were having problems with some really out of control fans harassing her because of their obsession with me—or, rather, with Spiderman. Anyway, the only reason people knew I was Spiderman was because Dr. Strange showed up in the middle of my math class and asked me to come fight Thanos. Someone filmed it, it was on youtube. Since I was in New York, I went and found him, and asked him if he could fix it somehow. Which he did, it just didn’t go to well.”

Down the table from him, Thor's brother smacked him on the arm, causing Thor to sigh deeply.

"So originally he was trying to get people just to forget your were Spiderman?" Doc asked. "So you could have a secret identity again.”

“Yes. But then I was trying to add exceptions, and Strange was getting mad at me because I was talking, and he was talking, and then the spell got messed up. It ended up bringing over a bunch of villains from other universes or timelines, and two other versions of me.”

"He messed up a spell because you talked?" Syn asked. Loki patted her arm soothingly.

"I assume the whole inter-dimensional villain thing is solved?" Sam asked.

“Oh, yeah. We got them contained, and then Dr. Strange had this spell in a box that was going to undo it and send everyone back if you pressed a button, but then they’d all die, and they weren’t evil, just messed up in some way, and so I wanted to fix them to see if they could have a second chance back in their universe. My Aunt May kinda talked me into it.”

Doc was sitting directly across from him and smiled at that. "Good for you," she said.

“She also, uh, called you. They were pretty much all caused my some sort of lab accident, or experiment failure. And she was like, Peter, you’re an idiot, the world’s expert in that stuff is literally your next door neighbor, of course I called her’. And you and Tony and Lani came—oh, before that, I had steal the spell box from Dr. Strange. I was in some other dimension. Mirror dimension? He chased me into it because he said he controlled it, but it’s basically like a kaleidoscope in there. It’s geometry, right. I figured out how to trap him in a web even though there wasn’t a stable wall because it’s was just, you know, math. Math beats magic, apparently.”

She was grinning. "I am so proud.”

That was exactly how she’d said it when he’d done it, too. He no idea why, but suddenly there were tears in his eyes. He tried to swipe them away before anyone noticed, but Syn put a sympathetic hand on his and it was a lost cause.

Doc stood up and came around the table. "Are you someone I hug? You seem like someone I hug." She hauled him out of his seat and hugged him so he could cry into her shoulder.

“It’s been a really terrible week,” he muttered.

"I'm sorry." She rubbed his back and rocked him a little. It reminded him of how she'd hugged him after the last battle with Thanos. She'd cut off Tony's arm, ordered around a bunch of people to get Steve fixed up, then stood up and hugged him while he'd cried his eyes out. If asked at the time, he'd have sworn up and down the woman was invincible.

"I hate magic," she said. "But this seems weirdly familiar, so I believe we know you. So we're going to Avenger the shit out of this and get it fixed. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, nodding. “Thank you.” He blew out a breath, and sat again. “Okay. So. We made solutions to fix them all, but then one of them went evil and convinced the others to escape, there was a big fight, we nearly blew up the building, my Aunt May almost died. You called the rest of the team, and we lured them to the statue of Liberty.”

"We remember that part," Barnes said. "Not your part, but we were at the statue and fighting a bunch of weird bad guys."

"Though, if I'm honest," Shang added. "I don't entirely recall how we knew how to beat them."

“You did that water vortex thing at one point,” Peter commented.

“The memory is fuzzy,” Sam said. “Like it’s really old and not last week.” The others nodded in agreement.

"All right," Syn said. "You had them at the Statue of Liberty. Were you able to cure them? And when did Strange come back into the picture?”

“We cured them, but the box with he messed-up spell in it blew up, and the spell got loose. It was going to bring everyone from every universe that knew about Spiderman here. There were these huge cracks in the sky. Strange and Wanda kept having to close them and they’d reopen. So I asked him if he could just do the original spell, and he said now because people were already showing up. He said no, and I asked if it was because of me, what if he erased me? So…that’s what he did.”

Syn let out a long, slow breath and rubbed both hands over her face. Then stood and walked out of the room. From the hallway Peter heard a little shriek and a rumble.

"She's going to need a minute," Loki said smoothly. He looked at Peter. "Why did you not contact any of your team? Surely of all the humans on the planet they would be the most sympathetic to your story?”

Peter sighed. “I thought I’d start with Aunt May. She’s known me my whole life and raised me—plus she was in the hospital and I wanted to see her. And she totally believed me—she said she had huge missing spaces in her memory and they had told her it was the head injury. But after I left she told the doctors, who said none of it was true. She was very upset and confused when I went back the next day. The day after I was escorted out by security and told if I came back I’d be arrested for trespassing. After that I just…I freaked out, and I was afraid to try anyone else.”

Doc reached over and put an arm around him.

Overhead, FRIDAY spoke. "A Michelle Jones Watson is at our front gate. She has a high-level clearance pass and wants to know why.”

Peter found himself grinning, and swallowing a lump in his throat. Of course she’d just come here. Of course she had. “Just Jones,” Peter said. “She doesn’t use the Watson.”

"Let her in, FRIDAY," Sam said. "And have someone bring her here." He looked at Peter. "You ready to see her, kid?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “She won’t know me. But yeah.”

A couple minutes later the door opened and MJ walked in, followed by Syn. "She remembered me from Thor's wedding," Syn said. "I tried to give her a quick explanation, but it's a lot of information to cover."

MJ was looking right at Peter, the same look she used to give him that meant she could see through all his bullshit. “Hi."

“Hi,” he said quietly, feeling like he might cry again. “I know you don’t remember me, but it’s really good to see you.”

She nodded, hooking a finger at Syn. "Magic queen lady explained there was a stupid spell that made everyone forget you. I'd already figured something was up because nothing has made sense in the last week. Like why I flew home first class, why my college was paid for, why I know Avengers and have this." She held up the security pass he'd given her. "I figured I'd come here and ask.”

“You’re my girlfriend,” he said. “I’m an Avenger. But nobody remembers that.”

"You're cute, I have good taste." She glanced at the table, waved to Katy and Shang. “Hey."

“Hi,” Katy said. “A wizard wiped our memory and I can’t remember how we met.”

"Same!" She looked back at Peter, then over at Doc. "How are we fixing this?"

"Magic is not my department."

"We're going to undo the spells," Syn said. Peter realized she and Loki had been having a quiet conversation in the corner, probably about the best game plan.

“Completely?” Peter asked. “What will that do?”

"It will be as it was before Strange cast the first one. Everyone's memories will return."

"What about the extra dimensional villains?" Barnes asked.

"We'll undo both spells," Loki explained, with a slight "talking to a small, dull child" tone. "The botched one and the bandage. No original spell, no multi-verse issues."

"And once everyone has their memory back," Syn continued. "If you would like us to do the original spell properly, we can.”

“I…I don’t know,” Peter said.

"One thing at a time," Sam said. "What do you two need to undo the spell."

"Peter," Syn said. "And some space.”

Peter nodded. “Outside?”

“Please."

“And you’re sure this isn’t going to destabilize the universe?”

"Yes," Loki said. "Because my wife is a competent sorceress that has been studying magic since before your people had buttons."

Syn put a hand on his arm. "I understand enough about what he was trying to do to understand what went wrong. We'll dismantle them quickly, there'll be no time for the side effects to take hold. The world will be exactly as it was before Strange attempted the first spell.”

“Thank you.” Peter said. “I’ve quite enough of this Holiday Special reenactment of It’s a Wonderful Life.”

"I don't know what that means," she said solemnly. "The air field behind this building should be sufficient space for this."

And so, the whole group of the filed outside to the Bifrost Landing Zone. Peter stood a few yard away from the group, Syn next to him, hands outstretched, glowing gold. Loki stood next to her, arms crossed, clearly not participating.

"You're not helping?" Peter asked.

"This is far more her sort of magic than mine," he explained. "I'm just here if she needs to siphon some power. If you want the spell redone, that would be my purview."

"See how you're talking and it's not effecting my concentration at all?" Syn said, just as a ring of gold light circled Peter.

"Oh! Sorry."

"No," Loki said mildly. "That was sincere. Real magic users can do a complicated spell on a battlefield."

The ring of gold started to circle him idly, characters appearing on it. They looked like runes, but slightly different than the ones Thor's people used. Wanda took a couple steps closer to get a better look.

It circled like that a few times and then, with no impetus that Peter could see, Syn's shoulders flexed and she pushed her hands down and out. The ring expanded out rapidly, blowing peoples hair and flattening the grass. He swore he heard something like a sonic boom.

Peter didn't feel any different, but he could see people on the team blinking and frowning in confusion.

Then MJ came flying forward and launched herself at him. "I told you I'd figure it out.”

He caught her, and the tears came again. He buried his face in her shoulder and held on tight. “I love you,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

"I love you, too. You're going to spend the next four to six weeks making this up to me.”

He was never going to let her go again. “I can’t believe you just showed up. Actually, yes I can.”

"Of course I did. I had weird fractured memories and a high security pass for the Avengers' compound. You expect me to ignore that mystery?”

He sighed. “The hospital convinced May I was a conman or a hallucination. I don’t even know. I didn’t know what the spell had done to people.” He leaned back to look at her, and framed her face in his hands. “Are you okay?”

"I'm fine," she said, curling her hands around his wrist. "I'm good. I promise.”

In his pocket, his phone was ringing, and he fished it out. “It’s Ned,” he said, hitting the FaceTime button.

"Hey, dude. Why did I forget you for a week?”

“A wizard did it. Several, actually.” He turned his camera so Ned could see Loki and Syn. “Thor’s sister-in-law is the coolest wizard I have ever seen.”

"Did you tell her I can make portals? I could make portals, right? That wasn't a dream?"

"Don't make portals!" she called over. "Every time you do you rip apart the fabric of reality.”

Peter turned around. “What? Strange and Wong do it all the time?”

She threw her hands out. "Oh for spirit's sakes! Where is this Strange, I am going to go full queen on his ass.”

“New York,” Peter, MJ, and Ned said in unison.

She looked at Loki. "May we?"

"I believe you offered the boy a new spell if he so desired, first."

"Right." They crossed over to where he was standing with MJ. "Do you want us to try to do the original spell correctly?”

Peter could feel MJ looking at him, and he said, “I think we should talk about it a bit first.”

"That's an excellent idea," Syn told him. "Would you like to go back inside?”

He nodded. “That sounds like a great idea.”

They walked to the building and the rest of the team took it as permission to swarm. He got a lot more hugs.

"Peter Benjamin Parker don't you ever do anything like that again," Doc said during her hug. Two in one day might be a record.

“Which part?” he felt compelled to ask.

"All of it. Magic is illogical and Strange is an ass." She leaned back to look at his face. "But mostly thinking it was okay to make us all forget you.”

“Well, you were actually on my list of people I wanted to remember.”

"Good. You should try to call May after the aliens are done with you.”

He blinked. “They are aliens, aren’t they? That’s really weird.”

"They're from another planet, so by definition." She shrugged. "I don't deal with the magic bullshit well. Sometimes a little insistent terminology helps.”

“The other Spidermen were really impressed I knew aliens.”

"You're generally a very impressive young man." She grinned. "And I'm super proud of you for beating magic with math.”

Doc didn’t complement casually, and her being proud of him meant something. “And math doesn’t accidentally blow up in your face.

"Almost never," she confirmed. "Come on. Let's get inside and figure out what you want to do with your one free professional spell.”

“Maybe I should do something more important than make people forget me.”

"No, no, no. No wishing for world peace or anything. That never ends well."

"I was actually going to suggest thinking smaller," Syn said as they returned to the conference room. "What problem, exactly, were you hoping to solve?”

“I have some very obsessive fans. They harass MJ, they show up on campus. Someone followed us and MJ’s mother’s information ended up on the internet—she’s mentally ill, so it was salacious—that was the original problem I asked Dr. Strange to fix. The reason why everyone knows who I am is because Strange outed me before the battle with Thanos by showing up in my math class and practically announcing it. Tony said that because I had the mask on, I could stay anonymous until I was out of school. I figured since Strange caused it, he might be able to fix it. He is a wizard and all.”

Syn stared at him a moment. “And his solution was to brainwash the universe?”

“Having everyone forget I was Spiderman was, technically, you know, my idea.”

MJ smacked him in the arm. "I can't believe you didn't talk to me about this.”

“I didn’t-I didn’t want to stress you out more,” he stammered.

"I'm your girlfriend. We should make this kind of decision together. Brain storm it. So you don't wreck the universe."

"Communication is a vital part of a healthy relationship," Loki said sagely.

“In my defense, I did not know it would wreck the universe.”

"Strange should have," Syn told him. "And he should have warned you it would and sat down with you to specifically map out the parameters of the spell. This is on him, not you."

“I just asked him to fix the one thing—he’s a wizard, right?—and he was like ‘I’ll use the Runes of Kafka. Or something like that.”

“Kafka’s certainly an apropos word,” Sam muttered.

"By the Tree," Syn muttered, rubbing her head. "I'm going to have a stroke." She put her hands on the table a moment, studying them, then pulled a ring off her middle finger and fiddled with a moment. There was a flare of gold magic and when it faded, the ring hand changed from one with a jewel to a thick, plain band.

"Here," she said, putting it in front of him. "It's enchanted to discourage people from noticing you if you don't want them to. If you're going somewhere you don't want to be recognized wear it. No mobs. I wear them all the time when I'm out in the city and Loki uses it when he's on Earth.”

Peter picked it up and stared. “Wow.”

"Generally with magic you want the smallest, simplest solution to the problem. Bonus if it's something non-permanent that can be turned on and off.”

“This is perfect. Thank you so much.”

"You're quite welcome. Now if that's all I would dearly love to visit this Strange." There was something oddly, Disney villain to the way she said that.

"They frown on killing, dearest," Loki said mildly.
She frowned. "Light maiming?"

"No." That was Thor.

"Fine. I'll just talk to him. Sternly.”

“I can’t believe you,” Valkyrie said, pointing to Loki, then to Syn, “Are telling her not to kill someone.”

"I didn't tell her not to, just that you all frowned on it. You'd just find a way to blame me for it anyway.”

Valkyrie snorted. “Me? When have I ever had trouble stabbing my opponent?”

"Not you specifically, you as in the communal you." He gestured to indicate the table. "I'm trying to be on good behavior.”

“I’m happy to participate in a floor vote on stabbing Strange,” Bucky said from the far end of the room. Peter didn’t see who turned or commented, only Bucky’s reply, “What? I got left with my in-laws in the middle of Thanksgiving while she had to go clean up his mess.”

"And I didn't like him before that," Doc commented.

“I want to go to New York to see my Aunt May,” Peter said. “Anyone who wants to yell at Strange might as well come along.”

"I have some words," MJ piped up.

Doc cleared her throat. "I should probably check on May.”

Peter looked back at Syn. “Are you going to do the magic teleport thing?”

"For this many people Loki should really do it."

"I've been to Strange's house. I can take us there.”

Chapter Text

Loki hadn’t remembered the name of the two-bit wizard who let him fall into a void for half an hour, but he certainly knew him when he saw him. And was not at all surprised he was at the root of this shenanigan.

They landed on the sidewalk in front of the wizard's home. Syn had changed into one of her formal court gowns, complete with crown, and looked ready for battle. He had rarely seen her angry. She was one of the most level headed people he knew. But the long, long list of stupid decisions Strange seemed to have made had tipped her firmly over the edge into furious.

She stormed up the stairs and the doors swung open as if afraid of her. The rest of them trailed after her.

They walked into the fancy stair hall, and Loki looked up. “Yes, this is definitely him.”

"It was snowing in here last time," Peter commented.

Syn gestured, sending out sparks. "Dr. Strange. You have guests.”

He appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing that red cape. Immediately he looked at Loki. “You’re the one that undid the spell?”

Loki let out a laugh. “Ha! No. That would be my wife.” He took a step forward. “May I present Queen Syn the Truthful of Alfheim. If she looks familiar, it’s because she brought a large army to your Thanos battle.”

Strange faltered, almost imperceptibly, then bowed. "An honor, your highness."

"Save it," she said, waving a hand. "I want to have a word with you about this mess you caused."

"That I-? All right, in my defense, Peter-"

"No," she said, stopping the words with another gesture. Strange's mouth still moved but no sound came out. "I'm talking. You are being lectured. And if you were about to tell me that the child who asked you to do the spell dared talk while you were casting it, I will counter with this. If talking means you can't do the spell, then the spell is too advanced for you and you should not be attempting it. Real magic-users cast spells in battle, under extreme duress and while in pain. Real magic users make sure the parameters of a spell are clearly spelled out before beginning. And real magic users study a spell like this to anticipate any issues before they come up. You did none of this and just decided to brainwash the universe on two minutes notice.”

She was so gorgeous when she was angry.

Loki sent up a little magic so Strange could speak again. He didn’t use it wisely. “Peter is not a child, he’s 20 years old.”

"You understand from my perspective you are a child? Peter is barely an infant." She turned to look at Peter, her whole demeanor softening. "No offense, dear, you managed very well given the circumstances, I don't blame you at all."

"Human brains are still growing and learning to function until 25," the Avenger's doctor piped up. "At 20 the "'thinking' center of the brain lights up when asked if jumping off a roof is a good idea. You're a doctor, you should know that."

Syn gestured as if she'd proven the point. "When I was the equivalent age I started a coup. It worked out but that doesn't mean it was a good idea." She looked back at Strange, fury settling over her again. "Not to mention the fact that he came to you with a small problem and your solution was brainwash the universe."

"I mean- that is what he asked for.”

“He doesn’t know anything about magic! He didn’t know what that meant. You're a doctor and a sorcerer, be the voice of reason!”

“He wanted to be forgotten. It was, admittedly, my fault he was now. I tried to help.”

"You also then took a mortal to the Mirror Dimension, threw portals around like they're toys and almost caused a multi-dimensional apocalypse. Do you not have superiors you can call when you're in over your head or did it not occur to you?”

“Wong already told him not to do it,” Peter piped up, then added, “Sorry.”

“Okay, Wong is not technically my superior-”

“Yeah, but he kind of is, isn’t he?” MJ asked. “I understand as a white man that’s hard to bend your brain around, but that doesn’t make it not true.”

Loki really liked this girl.

Syn tilted her head. "So someone with more knowledge than you told you it was a bad idea and you decided what the hell, I'll do it anyway. Then — shock of shocks — fucked it up royally and blamed Peter."

"All right, I've had enough of this." Strange did one of his complicated hand gestures and a portal came towards them. Syn gestured as if shooing a fly and it dissipated into nothing.

"I am eleven hundred years old," she said, putting a foot on the stairs and walking towards Strange. "I have drunk more wine that you have water. Magic flows in my world the way electricity flows here. You think you can duel with me? You've already lost." She reached the step below Strange and looked up at him. He towered over her but it was still very clear who was in charge. "My husband says I shouldn't kill you out right. So I will treat you like the child you are." She spread both hands and snapped them closed. A gold mist swirled around Strange. "You're grounded. No magic for a week."

His mouth dropped. "You can't-"

"Two weeks," she said, arching a brow. "Keep talking and make it a month." Wisely Strange shut up.

Syn turned and walked down the stairs. "I suggest using your time out to re-learn the basics of magic. I'm sure your Wong can help you.”

Loki watched her move, not even paying attention to the others anymore. It was probably rude for him to just grab her and teleport her home, but he wanted to. He wanted to take that dress off of her with his teeth.

She marched all the way outside and the rest followed. On the sidewalk the queen persona vanished and she grinned. "That was fun. Does anyone have anyone else they hate I can yell at?”

“Give me a minute,” Loki said. “I’m sure there’s someone.” But he really did have to kiss her first. She giggled as he caught her around the waist and kissed her, almost dipping her in the process.

"Is this what does it for you?" she murmured. "Me punishing bad wizards?”

“You being a Queen,” he replied, kissing the tip of her nose.

"You could sit in on more council meetings.”

“Okay, actual Queen who cares for her subjects is admittedly not as hot as you giving some asshole a dressing down.”

She laughed and shook her head before kissing him. "I give plenty of dressing downs in council meetings. Which you would know. If you attended them." She glanced at the others who were pointedly looking elsewhere. "Can we be of any more service before we return home?”

There Loki was, moments away from getting his wife back home and hopefully into his bed, and then his dumb brother opened his mouth. “Young Peter’s aunt was gravely injured during the battles they had with on account of the botched spells.”

"Oh," Syn said brightly. "Would you like me to heal her? Is that going to upset your doctors? Mortals get so perturbed. . ."

"I'll handle them," Doc said. "They fear me.”

“That would be amazing,” Peter said. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

"It's actually my strongest power," Syn told him. "Healing isn't common, even on Alfheim. If I'm of use I'm obligated to use it.”

“None of the earth wizards can do anything like that. At all.”

"You can actually. . . heal people?" Doc asked. "With magic?"

Syn nodded. "I can do everything but replace blood. Blood loss is not reversible, but a good healer can keep someone alive long enough for the body to replace it naturally.”

“We can transfuse blood,” Doc said. “Healing soft tissue injuries and fractures are much harder.”

"Fascinating. I can prevent scars, too.”

Her eyebrows went up. “I would very much like to see this in action.”

"Let's get to the hospital, then."

*

MJ had not expected, when she decided to borrow a car and show up at the Avengers' campus, that she would be magically teleported to New York, watch a wizard get his ass handed to him by a nice queen lady and then get teleported to a hospital to watch said nice queen heal Peter's Aunt May. Though, if she'd remembered knowing Peter at the beginning of the day, she probably wouldn't have been that surprised.

May was delighted to see Peter and Doc, who she was apparently mom-friends with. MJ got a hug as well, which was nice. Then they got to watch Syn use her gold magic to heal up May's wounds while Doc ran a scanner to try to figure out how it worked.

“It’s like watching a time lapse of healing on fast forward,” Doc said. “But with precision. How minutely are you directing it? Are you working on blood vessel reconnection right now?”

"Yes," she replied. "It's not. . . it's a sense of things not pinpoint precision. The body knows what it needs to do to heal, so I encourage it, nudge it to do certain things first so it heals the most efficiently.”

“People are always very disappointed she can’t regrow limbs,” Loki said.

"Regrettably, I am limited by the limits of the body." She lifted her hands. "That's the worst of it. Should I heal her completely or leave a few bruises for the doctors?”

“They convinced me Peter was a con man or an hallucination and threw him out of the hospital,” May said. “I will gaslight them about how I was never injured at all, and I’ll enjoy it.”

"There was also a small growth on your left breast," Syn said quietly. "I've dealt with it and cleaned out the area but it's something to keep an eye on later."

"We can put FRIDAY in your apartment," Doc offered. "She can do regular scans if you're nervous. You can cure cancer?"

"Is that what the growth is called? I can remove them and . . . clean the area to discourage new growth. The ones that are more systemic I've never tried to remove. It would probably be very fiddly and time consuming.”

There was silence in the room, as everyone stared at her. Even Doc, for a moment.

Syn blinked a moment, then looked over at Loki. "Did I make some sort of social faux pas?”

“If you can only do what the body can do, and you can remove cancer,” Doc said. “That means that there is some way the human body can do that, which is something I did not know."

"Oh! Well, it's actually the opposite. The growths are caused by cells over producing themselves so I just. . . make them stop. Tissue cells are just easier to manipulate than, say, blood or bone marrow.”

“I would love to figure out the mechanism for that.”

"We really should be heading home. But I'll try to figure out some method for you to contact me and we can collaborate.”

MJ noticed Peter’d gotten a thousand-yard stare going while this discussion was going on. She hooked her arm through his and pulled him out into the hall. She tugged him close enough to rest her forehead on his and breath with him a moment. "Hey. You with me?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “I think the adrenaline is crashing.”

She nudged him to a row of chairs and eased him to sit. "It's okay," she told him.

“I thought when the spell hit, we’d all still be standing there, and I could explain right away.”

So had she. Wanda was there, as was someone who had been brainwashed. It wouldn't have been a stretch. "Ned and I ended up at his grandma's having dinner.”

“I ended up at May’s. With no way to get back to California unless I, like, stole a car. No ID, no money, nothing.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It was a shitty week.”

"I'm sorry," she said holding his hand. "I thought I was going crazy.”

She could hear his intake of breath, and he understood that wasn’t hyperbole. “God. I’m so sorry. I know you’re tired of hearing that, I just—” His voice broke and he shook his head.

MJ put her arms around him and drew his head down to her shoulder. "I love you," she told him. "Even when you're dumb. We're gonna talk about this, but not now. You've been punished enough."

He hugged her a long time. Eventually he mumbled, “You were so brave.”

"I'm pretty awesome," she reminded him.

“You are. You’re why I can do this. You saw those two other me’s. Two was kinda messed up, Three was dispensing sage advice and complaining about his teenagers. The difference is some version of you.”

She smiled and kissed him. "I hope Two finds his me. He was nice." And had like saved her life and stuff. She rubbed his arm. "Wanna ask the magic aliens if they'll send us home? I have a powerful urge to nap with you.”

“God, that sounds amazing. I am sotired.”

Kissing his head again, she got to her feet and went back into the hospital room. "Peter and I would like to go home," she said to the collected group. "I don't know if the rest of you are hanging out but could someone magic send us back?”

Loki came over to her. “They’re on a tear about bone marrow. Where do you want to go specifically? I can’t take you anywhere I haven’t been.”

"The spot on the campus your wife undid the spell is fine. We can get back to his cabin from there.”

“Then I would be happy to,” Loki said. He was pretty nice for a guy who tried to conquer the planet once.

A minute later, she and Peter were home. She steered him to one of the electric carts, which drove them back to his cabin. There, they collapsed on his bed, tangled around each other. "I have to return Astrid's car at some point," she murmured.

“I’m curious how many text message she’s left you since she remembered your boyfriend is Spiderman.”

She laughed. "Probably a lot. Stark's probably left you a few.”

“My phone might still be in New York.” He pulled her closer, pressing his face into the crook of her neck. “I don’t care. The building could be on fire and you couldn’t get me to move.”

"Well, let's hope it doesn't get that bad." She rubbed his back, resting her head on top of his.

They were quiet, drifting, for a while. She thought he was asleep, and then he whispered, “Hey, MJ?"

"Yeah? I'm here.”

“If you ever want me to stop, I’ll do it. You just say so.”

She didn't believe that for a minute. Well, she believed he meant it, and that he'd stop. But she also suspected it would eat at him and ruin a lot of things between them. But she was touched he offered. For now, that was enough. That he'd be willing to try. "I love you," she said. "All the parts of you.”

“All of them love you back.”

"Good." She kissed the top of his head. "Get some rest."