Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter was a Grade A mess when he landed on the roof outside Ned’s bedroom window. May had given him permission to stay with his best friend after the Homecoming dance since she had a shift at the hospital. He could plainly hear the explosive conversation inside.

Ned had gotten caught. Ned was helping him track the Vulture and had gotten caught. Ned had told the teacher he was looking at porn- What the hell, Ned?!

Ignoring all of his injuries from the cuts stinging because of sweat in them to his broken ribs to his sprained wrist to his fractured, lacerated collarbone, Peter quickly entered his best friend’s bedroom and commandeered Ned’s laptop.

It took him thirty minutes because it was hard to focus. All traces of everything incriminating were erased and replaced with logs of Ned playing three video games at once featuring endowed characters. Ned and Peter routinely infiltrated the school’s system to modify Peter’s attendance. This was par for the course, really.

Looking at computer-generated, covered boobs was a lot better than actual porn, and the teachers knew Ned would blurt things out in the worst way. It was so much better than them following up on what Ned had been doing.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief, powered off the laptop, and pulled his suit off to trade it for actual pajamas, though he left the shirt off and dug out a well-stocked medical kit Ned kept under his bed for Peter. It used to be smaller when clumsiness was the worst thing they had to worry about. Then, Ned found out about Spider-Man and saw what happened to Delmar’s, and his observation grew sharper than Hawkeye’s.

Footsteps coming up the stairs made him pause in mid-organizing of what he needed- one set, lightly stomping, heartbeat’s slightly fast, probably coming down from the scolding. Ned. He still hid in the corner out of sight of the door, sighing when Ned came in.

“Peter?” Ned asked softly as he closed the door. He had spotted the open window, his laptop not being where he left it, and the medical kit on the desk.

All the adrenaline had faded, and Peter was really starting to feel those aches. “…Ned…” he whispered with as little movement as he could, though it didn’t matter as the nerve endings still lit up. Wrapping an arm around his chest as his breath hitched, Peter tried not to cough.

“Shit- Peter-” Ned choked out as soon as his eyes landed on his injured brother. A blink later, and he was in medic mode, taking the antiseptic and gauze. “Shh, shh,” he hushed and helped Peter to his bed. His quiet assurances, “It’s okay- I got this- I got you,” came along with each and every sign of pain the other teen gave. Peter never made a sound, though.

Ned had a terrible appreciation of how high his best friend’s pain tolerance had become and of how considerate Peter was of being in someone else’s house.

Peter loved his best friend for helping to take care of him without badgering him. He was in a lot of pain after swinging on that collarbone and busted ribs, and talking was out of the question. Well, he loved Ned for many more reasons, but right now, that was at the forefront.

As Ned prepped the needle to stitch the puncture over Peter’s collarbone, Peter gingerly felt along his ribs and made sure they were aligned. Nothing was worse than having to fix that. His super-healing was already starting to kick in, and on the first growl of his stomach, Ned had a protein bar opened and waving in his face.

Peter grinned at him and took it with his uninjured arm.

“Hey,” Ned got his attention since it was better than letting his best friend focus on the needle, “you didn’t get your phone out of Mr. Toomes’s car, did you?” He kept the questions to yes or no answers. Talking would only put more strain on Peter’s ribs, and his goal was to promote healing, not suffering.

When Peter shook his head, Ned frowned a a little.

“Okay… Okay-okay-okay, I can find it again and wipe it. They’ll investigate the area. I’ll do that after this. You, uh…You’re really banged up- Do you want another bar?” Peter shook his head again. “Okay, cool… Lemme know if you do,” he paused to enjoy the relief at his brother’s amused smile, “Uh… What about Mr. Stark’s stuff?”

“Hap’s there,” the injured teen managed to answer.

“Right. Okay, yeah. Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you-” Ned cut himself off when Peter’s good hand patted his shoulder. “It’s not okay,” he declared in a fierce whisper. “None of this is okay! Mr. Stark didn’t talk to you. Happy didn’t listen to me. Why are adults so stupid? …Don’t answer that. It does need an answer, but I hope we never understand. Could you imagine treating your kids like this? Mr. Stark is Iron Man, so he should get being on the ground as a hero- If he doesn’t want you doing this by yourself, then why did he leave you by yourself? Sheesh, it’s like he doesn’t get how stubborn you are-”

“…Ned,” Peter huffed and gently pulled the bent needle out of his best friend’s grip. The stitches were finished during Ned’s rambling, but the other teen had worked himself into a rather impressive, frustrated rant. Peter diffused it by shuffling enough to lay his head on Ned’s shoulder. The pain was finally starting to ease, his ribs the focus of his healing, so he could murmur, “I ‘ave you, m’ Guy in th’ Chair,” with a light, sleepy slur. “Yer th’ best.”

Ned felt tears in his eyes but held off on breaking down until after he took a picture then got a shirt on Peter and prodded him to get under the covers of Ned’s bed. After cleaning up and putting the medical kit away, he took care of the phone. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in the bed with his hand on Peter’s chest to make sure his heart was beating and lungs still moving. There was something he had to do first, however.

Happy was his best shot. He didn’t have Mr. Stark’s number, or else he’d be trying to contact the supposed-mentor directly. Calling Happy wouldn’t work. He was furious with these people who said they’d support Spider-Man and then didn’t, so he sent the picture he took of Peter’s bruised, cut, broken body.

It was with grim satisfaction that he received a call five seconds later. He put the phone up to his ear. Happy wasn’t getting a video call. Peter needed rest.

“I debated not answering,” he said in lieu of a greeting, his voice quiet to not wake his brother. It didn’t take away from the anger. “It’s what you do to Peter. Ignore him. Leave him out to dry.”

“I deserve that,” Happy responded, not mincing words but sounding chagrined. “How is he?”

“Sleeping right now,” Ned answered. He wanted them to learn, not lash out at Peter later. “He’s hurt. Everything will heal except his heart. Thanks to you and Mr. Stark for that. Good job.”

“We deserve that, too.”

Ned didn’t relax despite the agreement to his assessment. “Is he going to get the apology he deserves? Or are you going to keep being dumb adults?”

“I tried to call him when the plane went down.”

He decided to be a bit forthcoming instead of keeping them in the dark like they had done to Peter. “He dropped his phone in the Vulture’s car to track him. I don’t know what happened after that except he wasn’t able to go back for it. I already wiped it.” He was thankful that they made backups. Peter was proud of that video he’d made of the trip in Germany, as he should’ve been. “I was more concerned with patching him up and keeping him from talking. He probably has less unbroken ribs right now.”

“I’ll come get him and bring him to the Med Bay at the Compound.”

“I don’t think so,” Ned immediately declined. “I know more about him and his changes than anyone else.” It was a silly thing to feel competitive over, but right now, he knew the best way to help Peter. An unfamiliar location wasn’t it. Being around people who weren’t sorry wasn’t it. “He’ll be fine by tomorrow afternoon as long as he doesn’t have to fight another supervillain alone in the morning.”

“…Okay.” Happy sounded frustrated and a bit upset. Good. He was getting just a taste of how they’d made Peter feel– unheard, unimportant. “Can I reach him at this number?”

Ned scoffed and retorted, “He will call you. And you better answer.” He then hung up and plugged in his phone to make sure it was fully charged. Of course, Peter would call them tomorrow. His best friend was painfully forgiving to everyone except himself, something that too many people took advantage of.

Instead of dwelling on that, Ned slipped under his blankets. He winced when Peter unconsciously shifted to make space for him despite the pain it put the vigilante in. It was then Ned realized just what being a vigilante meant. He knew of others around the boroughs of New York City, and it hadn’t really occurred to him how clearly marked their territories were. Peter had mentioned stepping outside of Queens very rarely.

Spider-Man’s team was Ned. He wanted more help for his best friend but not at the cost of his best friend. Peter was too good for this world. Flash still having teeth was evidence of that. Mr. Stark’s comment about wanting Peter to be better than him was silly, as far as Ned was concerned. Peter already was better. He had communicated everything to Happy, just as he’d been told to do. They were the ones who didn’t return the favor.

Once again, Ned wanted to curse stupid adults.

He blew out an agitated breath and rested his hand on Peter’s chest, letting the beat of that powerful, wonderful heart lull him to sleep.

The next morning came with no unpleasant surprises. Ned expected more than only two new protein bar wrappers on his nightstand. A clingy brother nuzzled up against his back was also normal. After the spider bite, Peter became a clingy, sticky brother. No one else knew that stickiness extended beyond Peter’s hands and feet.

“G’mornin’,” Peter mumbled, slowly working to unstick his face from the back of Ned’s shoulder. He was so glad that his best friend wasn’t freaked out by it. “Thanks for takin’ care’a me las’ night,” he appreciated and rolled over to stretch with only a light hiss as his stitches pulled.

“Anytime, Peter,” Ned assured him, reaching over to move the neckline of Peter’s shirt. With a satisfied smile at the nearly healed wound, he said, “I’ll take those out after breakfast. My parents are probably gonna be a bit, uh…”

Peter huffed a laugh and teased, “I heard someone was looking at porn.”

Ned playfully, gently shoved him. “Dude, come on-”

“Don’t worry,” Peter cut him off with a little smile, “I already adjusted the logs to show you were playing three video games with, uh…very pretty women.”

“But…when?” Ned’s eyes started widening even as his mouth started frowning. “Did you do that before I-”

“-found me in your room? Yup. It was a little hard with a sprained wrist, but eh,” Peter shrugged his good shoulder, “I got it taken care of.” He flexed his hand. “Pretty sure I fractured couple of metacarpals, now, too.”

“Geez, man!” Ned breathed, “How’d you- What even is your pain tolerance?”

Peter shrugged, muttered, “Let’s just say ‘stupid high’ and leave it at that for your sanity,” and snagged another protein bar. “Will your parents be okay with me here? You’re supposed to be in trouble, right?”

“Weeell…yeah,” Ned grinned ruefully, “but they already agreed to you staying, sooo…”

Peter glanced at the still-open window. “Aren’t they going to wonder how I got in?”

“Oh, right. You just showed up later since I got caught, and I let you in.”

The vigilante slumped down on the bed with a little frown and mumbled, “I hate how much we have to lie.”

Ned patted his arm. “I’d rather us lie and keep us all safe than have someone spill.”

“Yeah, true. So…breakfast? Smells like bacon from here.” Peter would probably rather eat cardboard than have another protein bar, but he could breathe without pain. His only visible bruises were under his shirt and a light bit of discoloration on his wrist. No language had words to express how thankful he was for Ned. The next computer he repaired would fund resupplying that medical kit and protein bar stash along with a RAM upgrade his brother had been eyeballing.

Breakfast wasn’t tense at all until Principal Morita called. Peter did not want to be a spider on the wall for that conversation, and Mr. and Mrs. Leeds sent both him and Ned back up to Ned’s bedroom. Instead of dwelling on that, Ned handed his own phone to Peter. He explained what he had done the night before and found himself with an armful of clingy brother.

Peter’s voice was a raspy mess when he whispered, “You’re the best.” Once he was composed, he dialed Happy’s number on speaker so that Ned could hear. It was picked up on the second ring.

“…Peter?”

The vigilante fidgeted by folding his toes overtop each other again and again. “Hi, Happy.”

“Oh, thank God you’re okay! We’ve been worried sick!”

He glanced up at Ned, whose face was like stone because he was Not Impressed. “…Were you? Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry. Sorry about the plane, too. I tried to collect all Mr. Stark’s stuff, and-and I left a note, but-” Ned put his hand over Peter’s mouth.

“Peter. Breathe, kid. Tony’s not mad. I’m not, either. I- Thank you… You saved my job.”

Peter pulled away from Ned slightly in surprise and blurted, “I did? How? I crashed a stupidly expensive plane on Coney Island!”

“My job was to see that stuff safely transported to the Compound. If it hadn’t been for you, all of it would’ve been stolen. …I’m sorry, Peter. We- I should’ve listened. I’ll do better, okay?”

Ned spoke up then, “I’ll hold you to it, Happy. Peter won’t. He’s too forgiving.”

“Hey!” Peter barked in mock-offense, “I’m sitting right here!” He knew he was a hopeless cause when it came to giving people too many chances. Ned was the demon to his angel sometimes.

“You got a good friend, Peter. Speaking of best friends, hold on and I’ll forward you-”

“How about,” Ned cut in, “you ask Peter if he wants to be forwarded?”

“…Yeah, okay. I deserved that. Peter, do you want me to forward you to Tony?”

Peter was getting a front-row seat to more of Ned’s rabid-demon tendencies than he had in a while, so Happy’s words threw him enough to almost make him cry. “Mr. Stark…wants to talk to me? After what I did?”

Happy’s sigh crackled over the speaker. “You weren’t the only one who screwed up there, okay? I think it’s a merry-go-round of it right now, and the only one in the clear is Ned.”

Ned looked proud and annoyed, which made Peter purse his lips to not smile.

“Okay, yeah…” the vigilante half-whispered, “If-If Mr. Stark isn’t, ya know…busy…” A single ring came over to show it the call had been forwarded before it was answered.

“This had better be you, Underoos! Ned is grounded for that scare!”

Ned wasn’t going to take that lying down, especially when Peter flinched. “You’re the one who should be grounded, Mr. Stark,” he retorted as he snatched up the phone and turned on the video call. He wanted the full force of his anger to be visible to the man on the other end. Peter moved to be able to see the screen. “I really hope Happy sent you a recording of our call last night.”

Mr. Stark’s face was a bit paler than usual, his brow furrowed in worry. A lot of the tension eased when he saw Peter’s unblemished face. “Lordy, that healing factor of yours sure is something, kid.” The relief in his voice made Peter’s eyes well up, and at a quiet sniffle, Ned handed him a tissue.

“I’m sorry about your plane and equipment, sir.”

Mr. Stark beat Ned to it, “I don’t care about the plane, Peter! You needed a hospital!”

“Enhanced,” Ned and Peter said at the same time before Peter continued, “If I go to a hospital, I’ll wind up in a dingy government lab before I’m even diagnosed.”

Mr. Stark rubbed a hand down his face with a frustrated sigh. “You’re right. I know you are. I’m just- You scared me, Pete. You weren’t there, I couldn’t locate you, and all I had was your goofy note…” The video shook a bit as he sat his phone down to rub at his wrist. “I watched all the recorded video from the plane- God, you’re good at on-the-spot decisions… You saved a chunk of the city. You almost died, but…you did it.”

Ned passed his now-crying brother another tissue and wrapped and arm around him. “We tried to call Happy,” he told the man, “He hung up on me.”

“Yeah, that won’t be happening anymore,” Mr. Stark vowed, “New protocol for FRIDAY: No Ignoring the Spiderling. I trust you not to abuse it.”

“You…You trust me? After the Ferry? Sir, a lot of people could’ve gotten hurt-”

“Yeah, and it’s on me that I didn’t tell you about calling the FBI.”

Ned couldn’t help the astonished raise of his eyebrows. He hadn’t had to go scorched earth on Mr. Stark at all, and it threw him for a loop. Maybe he wasn’t a stupid adult.

“Anakin, you’re gonna catch flies.” Peter snickered, and the smile it brought to Mr. Stark’s face was something else. “Okay, we need to have a real conversation. I’m gonna need my intern.”

Ned was rather proud of that being his nickname. Anakin may have gone to the Dark Side, but he was strong and did what he thought needed to be done. Peter was who mattered most to him. He’d do everything he could to protect him.

“I have to take his stitches out first. They’ll heal inside his skin otherwise.”

“Good idea. That sounds like misery. I’ll be there in twenty-five minutes. FRI, end call.”

Peter didn’t mind Ned shuffling him onto the bed. “They’re starting to itch,” he mentioned, knowing Ned would be upset if he didn’t speak up regarding his discomfort.

Ned had been acquainted with Peter’s self-sacrificial nature almost as long as he’d known Peter. “Which means,” he stated as he turned back around with the needed tools, “you’re barely resisting digging them out with your fingernails.”

The vigilante blushed and mumbled, “Maybe a bit.”

Once they were out, Ned applied a little dollop of antibiotic ointment to protect and soothe the skin. He smiled at Peter’s sigh of relief. “Okay, give that a minute to soak in then you can shower.”

Peter grinned at him and replied, “That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“No,” Ned corrected with a laugh, “that was ‘bogo Delmar sandwiches.’”

Peter’s eyebrows raised before he took on a mock-pensive expression, even putting his hand to his chin. “You got a point.”

Ned laughed and gently shoved him toward the door. He got dressed while Peter showered and wrote a note telling his parents that he was being a good best friend and would be back before dark. Placing it on his desk, he packed his laptop and Peter’s suit into his backpack. By the time his brother returned, he was standing by the open window.

“Dude,” Peter mumbled, “your parents are gonna be so pissed.”

“Forgiveness, not permission, right?”

The vigilante cringed as he thought of May and just how badly it was going to go when she learned about Spider-Man. He knew he couldn’t hide it forever, especially since she already knew he was sneaking out. “Uh, sure… If we die, then we die.”

Ned nodded with a silly, solemn frown, and then they were out the window with Peter helping him down from the roof. It was perfect timing as that familiar Audi rolled up. The enhanced teen was listening more for the easily distinguishable heartbeat inside, though he picked up both Happy and Mr. Stark. Happy rolled down the window and gave Ned a look before huffing in acceptance.

Peter squeezed in between Mr. Stark and Ned in the back, quite surprised to find himself accosted by his not-usually-touchy, maybe-not-former mentor. “Uh…hi…” he greeted both men as his shirt collar was tugged aside.

“Not even a mark… Good job on those stitches, Anakin,” Mr. Stark praised Ned before wrapping an arm around Peter and tugging him close. “You- You’re- God, kid, what am I gonna do with you?” He finally pressed the bottom half of his face against Peter’s head and sent Ned a grateful look over still-damp curls.

Peter wanted to hug him back so badly but froze stiff. Ned nudging his side made him blurt, “Are we, uh…there…yet, Mr. Stark?”

Mr. Stark’s breath hitched before he choked out, “Yeah, kid- Yeah. We’re there.” He didn’t complain when Peter used a little too much of his strength, instead telling him, “You nearly dying puts a bunch of shit into perspective. …Rhodey and Pepper might have also chewed my ass out. I’m so sorry, Underoos.”

Ned lightly jabbed his elbow in Peter’s back when the vigilante opened his mouth to apologize again. “Now, we do better,” the coding genius said at the puzzled look Peter gave him. “Let’s start with communication. Peter, what happened after I lost you on the call last night?”

“Uh…” Peter winced and advised, “Happy, you might want to park.”

“Is it that bad?” Ned simply wanted to be prepared. He had dug a bullet out of his best friend and stitched up stab wounds. Peter was worth it all. Regret wasn’t in Ned’s vocabulary when it came to Peter’s wellbeing.

“Weeeeell… The plane wasn’t the first time I almost died.”

Mr. Stark sounded like he was choking for a moment before he seriously questioned, “Are you cursed, Pete?”

“Probably.”

“Okay,” Happy said as they came to a stop in a parallel space next to a café. He maneuvered to be able to see all three of his passengers and prompted, “Lay it on us, kid.”

Peter had two ways of delivering bad information: entirely too nonchalant or a rambling bombardment. Either method left most listeners horrified. Ned was as familiar with both as he was his own rambling or obnoxious questioning. Peter decided to start from the moment that Adrian Toomes answered the door of his date’s house. From there, Happy and Mr. Stark grew paler and more and more grave. Ned only became more determined to somehow make those criminals’ lives a living hell- three hots and a cot plus free medical was too kind.

Rolling with the punches was something Peter simply did. Ned knew he didn’t have a choice, especially after becoming Spider-Man. Being threatened by his date’s dad? As long as May and Ned were safe, business as usual. Having a building dropped on him? Simply be thankful to God that there were no bystanders present. Crashing a plane and fighting an alien-tech-powered criminal nearly to the death? Just a regular Monday- or Friday, in this case.

“Honestly,” Peter wrapped up his harrowing tale, “I’m just glad I stayed with Ned and didn’t have to go to school today. May’s had some extra work at the hospital with these alien guns floating around, so we haven’t made it to the grocery store this week.”

Ned snickered into the tense atmosphere. “And the last time she sent you to the grocery store alone, you came back with pre-packaged meals instead of the list of burnable produce she wanted.” Peter made finger guns at him with a humored smile. He was thankful that the stash of protein bars he insisted on had helped his best friend, who also contributed to said stash when capable. Ned simply wanted to make it known that they didn’t have food because of time constraints.

May loved Peter like her own son despite not being blood related. Not being able to spend time with her nephew was torture. It was another reason Peter put so much time in getting rid of the alien weapons. May was overworked at the hospital and in danger.

“Okay,” Mr. Stark spoke up, having already processed the story and picked out what he could do to fix some glaring issues. “Obviously, you are Spider-Man with or without a spiffy suit. So, you’re getting it back.” Peter gasped and twisted to face him, eyes welling with tears. “Also, I’ll have a StarkPhone ready for you today with Karen. …And make you a pocketful of trackers so you don’t do something so tactically smart but also harebrained again.”

With his brow furrowed, Peter asked, “Could we try streamlining the webshooter design?” Mr. Stark gave the budding engineer a curious look and waved one of his hands to prompt more thoughts. Ned was simply happy to see his best friend being properly listened to. Peter was hesitant and reassuring as he explained, “Like…they’re great, Mr. Stark, don’t get me wrong! But they’re…huge.” The oldest genius in the car frowned slightly before nodding. “Wearing them outside my suit is a dead giveaway. A-And-And they have trackers, soooo…if we can make them to where I can always wear them, then…”

“Good point, ‘Roos,” Mr. Stark told him, ruffling the untamed curls. “I designed all of it without your input, so we can definitely make it better. I’m still dealing with Accords stuff, but we’ll make it happen, okay, Pete?”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief with a wobbly smile. “That sounds great, Mr. Stark. Thank you!”

“And you,” Mr. Stark said as he leaned around to pin Ned with his stare, “I’ll figure out something for you, too. You hacked a multimillion-dollar suit in a hotel room. I’m not letting talent like that get away.”

“Oh- Well- I- Um…” Ned stammered, unaccustomed to having anyone apart from Peter take notice.

Said brother nudged his arm. “C’mon, Ned, say yes! Spider-bros for life, right?”

Ned caught his hand and initiated their handshake. “Spider-bros for life.”

Mr. Stark put a hand to his forehead, trailed down to pinch the bridge of his nose, then let out a little giggle. “I’m surrounded by dorks. Happy, please drive.”

Happy snorted in amusement, despite never actually smiling, as he turned around and started the car. “Seems to me like you’re just finding common ground, Tony.”

A huff of laughter escaped Mr. Stark. “You’re in the car, too.”

Happy put up the partition.

Peter’s snickers were muffled by Mr. Stark’s hand in his hair pushing his face into the man’s neck, and Ned’s were hushed by the other hand gripping his shoulder to pull his face against Peter’s back.

Pursing his lips couldn’t stop a smile from growing on Mr. Stark’s face.

It took three weeks for Mr. Stark, Peter, and Ned to create and implement a device to track any Chitauri signals within a fifty-mile radius. Iron Man and Spider-Man quickly tackled every ping. The influx of patients at the hospitals finally slowed, and May used the extra money to get tickets to a new exhibit at the Museum of Mathematics. She wanted to spend time with her nephew.

With everything going on between school, Spider-Man, and the now-official internship, Peter forgot and went out on an early morning patrol. Upon returning home, he was nursing a bruised side from choosing between a gunshot or a baseball bat. He didn’t hear May’s heartbeat or footsteps.

She heard his window shut and tiptoed over to his door. The sound of her boy’s breath hitching and stuttering had her throwing it open. She was Not Ready. “Peter! What the fuck?!”

“M-May! I-I-I can explain- Ouch…” he stammered then hissed the last word, wrapping his hand around his side and folding a little toward it. He knew at least one rib was nearly broken.

May Parker was both a guardian and a nurse, and she could tell Peter needed the latter one right then. She took a step forward and pinched the suit between her fingers. “Get this off so that I can see,” she commanded, glaring when he made to argue, “Do you want good bedside or bad bedside?”

“Is this the-the nurse version of…of g-good-cop-bad-cop?”

She had no idea how she didn’t realize her nephew was Spider-Man yet with how similar they were. He made jokes as distractions all the time. “You wanna find out? Hmm?” she dared and tugged a little at the suit. “Off. Now.”

Not having anything on beneath the suit besides his boxers wouldn’t work for May as it had for Mr. Stark. She had seen him in various states of undress throughout his life. Having a teenager wandering about in his boxers was practically a rite of passage for parenthood.

Peter pressed the spider emblem and let the ballooned suit slide off.

“Oh God, sweetie…” she breathed and covered her mouth, the next question slightly muffled, “What hit you?” A moment later, she was back in emergency-nurse mode.

“Choices did,” he quipped then hissed when her fingers pressed around the bones. “Yup- That’s fractured-” He covered his own mouth tightly as nausea punched him in the stomach, barely swallowing back the urge to vomit. It wasn’t his first rodeo, and he really needed his mid-patrol snack to stay down.

“You sound so sure without an x-ray.” May didn’t keep touching that area, though, thinking back to all the injuries she’d seen on videos of Spider-Man. Her nephew was so brave and so strong. It didn’t alleviate how angry she was with him for not telling her about this. “What can I do to help?”

Peter couldn’t help the surprised look he gave her.

“Scolding will come later,” she promised, making him cringe. “You’re injured. What can I do?”

“Uh… If we’re still going to the museum… Can we get lunch first?”

“You almost threw up just now.”

“Yup. Food helps. Super-healing. Crazy metabolism.”

After a quick, careful shower where May insisted on helping him wash his hair, they went to their favorite Thai restaurant. Peter’s skull never stopped tingling from how intense her stare was. They usually didn’t opt for a booth, but she wanted him beside her so that she could keep a better eye on him. He realized the other strategy of it allowing them to talk more quietly.

“How long?” she demanded after they ordered drinks and an appetizer.

“Uh…” He needed something a little more than that. “How long have I been strong and sticky? Or how long for Spider-Man?”

“Both.”

Peter was never known to half-ass anything, and maybe he got that from May. “Well… I got bit by a spider at that ESU trip… Remember when I got really-really sick last year?”

“That’s what caused it? God, Peter, we thought you were dying…” May and Ben’d had to put him in an ice bath at one point to bring his fever down before he cooked, but he had survived. Now, though, she understood why he hadn’t wanted a hospital.

He gave a half-shrug and then continued, “I’ve been Spider-Man since…since about a week after Ben…” He looked up at her with watery, reddening eyes. “I-I-I couldn’t save him, May… We were at that bodega because I liked it…”

“No,” May choked out, trying to sound firm despite the burn of tears. She cupped his cheeks and told him, “No, baby, no. Ben was Ben. He would’ve helped whether you were there or not.” Slowly, she stroked his cheeks with her thumbs and wiped away his tears. “A call for backup went out… A call for us to get prepped for injured… You aren’t the reason he died.”

“B-But May… I-I’m fast- I’m strong- I heal… I could’ve…”

“Peter. No.” She tugged him against her, tucking his head under her chin and rocking slowly. “Ben wouldn’t have been able to live with himself.”

Peter let out a soft sob then coughed lightly and held his side again, more upset by not being able to simply cry right then.

“If you got shot, sweetie…and on his watch?” May sucked in a shuddering breath. “I can’t imagine what he would’ve done… Super-healing or not, you’re our boy, Peter.”

Their appetizer arriving distracted them. Peter had heard their drinks being dropped off but hadn’t cared in the face of May’s hug. May decided to give a little extra on the tip for the server respecting the painful-but-heartfelt moment they were having.

She slipped back into nurse mode as Peter got a serving on the small plates provided. “How fast will that heal?”

“It’s my only injury, so probably by the time we leave the museum,” he answered honestly. “Mr. Stark and Dr. Cho made some really awesome snack bars for me and Ned to keep on hand. They don’t taste like cardboard after the second one.”

May blinked and thought back over the time that her boy was sick. She couldn’t remember whether Ned’s mom had mentioned anything, so she asked, “Did Ned get bitten, too?”

“Huh- What? No,” Peter answered with a confused furrow of his brow. “He’s my Guy in the Chair. Ya know, my computer dude and medic. Spider-bros for life.”

“Oh, Ned is your medic?”

Peter couldn’t figure out why he felt like he’d stepped on a landmine. “Um…yes?” he squeaked, stuffing another bite in his mouth.

He was saved by the server coming by to ask how the appetizer was and to take their entrée orders.

May was highly displeased. “He has no medical training at all, Peter. Why didn’t you tell me? I’m a nurse- An emergency nurse!”

Peter frowned in offense on behalf of his brother. “Hey, you can get a certification in anything through YouTube. Besides, he’s gotten good at stitches and splints.”

The look on May’s face encompassed all the ‘Lord, give me strength’ prayers Peter had ever heard. “I’ll be the judge of that,” she decided then circled back around. “So, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I, uh…didn’t…want you to-to worry…”

“And yet I did, anyway,” she told him. “I knew you were sneaking out, remember? I saw bruises sometimes… Peter, I was scared for you.”

He winced and looked away, hating that he’d disappointed May so badly.

“Nuh-uh, you look at me,” she demanded, her fingers gently turning his chin back to face her. “I love you, Peter. I couldn’t be proud when I didn’t know. Now, I can be proud. You’re so much like Ben…and your mom and dad…”

Knowing she wasn’t disappointed alleviated almost every bit of tension in him. “You, um…aren’t going to make me stop?”

“Would I be able to?”

Peter jerked back at the whipcrack-fast response, his mouth working a bit uselessly at first. “I think… I would…for you… It’d kill a part of me to…to have to walk away from-from people who need help, but…but I would.”

She smiled at his honesty, glad to know she still held at least a little sway in his teenage brain. “And I can’t do that to you,” she told him and patted his cheek. “You have a gift, Peter. You have the power to help. It’s a part of you, just like it was a part of Ben. I can’t take that away from you and still have you be my boy that I love so much.”

He nearly cried from how much he loved her right then. Instead, he hugged her as tightly as he dared, being careful of his strength, and finally relaxed.

“…I can ask you for Mr. Stark’s number, though. That suit of yours has to be his design since Spider-Man didn’t have it until after that intern retreat in Germany.”

May didn’t yell at Mr. Stark at all, and Peter thought that might have been the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen. When his aunt was yelling, she was reacting. If she was calm and angry, then she’d had time to puzzle out her emotions and plan.

Mr. Stark was appropriately terrified, but it wasn’t out of fear that he agreed to her conditions. She was his intern’s guardian and loved Peter. That also saw him conversing with Ned’s mom and dad, who were over the moon at their child’s brilliance and dropped all punishment over sneaking away from the dance to play mature-rated video games. Shortly, they had schedules for their internships.

May also wrangled a promise from Mr. Stark to help them learn to defend themselves better. He swore to find them the best martial artist he could on one condition. They had to call him by his name.

Peter and Ned left little cutouts of Tony the Tiger all over his private lab, the R&D intern labs, and the penthouse of the Tower he decided not to sell.

Tony smiled and rolled his eyes but kept every single one.

Chapter Text

Peter and Ned were both heartbroken shells after the battle at the Compound and Tony’s funeral. They had spent so much time with the man after he made them both interns following the defeat of the Vulture and Ned unleashing his inner rabid demon on Tony and Happy. May learning the secret saw quite a few positive changes happen. One of those was a master marital artist, Xu Shang-Chi, agreeing to train them as a favor to Wong.

Tony and Doctor Strange had only smiled secretively when asked how they’d gotten Wong to help.

Thoughts of their mentor never failed to make the teens’ hearts ache. His funeral had been beautiful, and they had joined Harley, Happy, Rhodey, and Fury as pallbearers. Carrying Tony to his final rest felt more like a changing of the guard.

They were horribly subdued upon returning to school post-Blip. It was Ned who punched Flash in the face for insulting their internships again. It was Peter who tackled him to the ground and pinned him there, danger sense pinging before he could swing at Ned. Another of Flash’s buddies tried to kick at Peter. Ned was there and knocking that leg to the side, throwing the other bully off balance enough to make him fall.

A sharp whistle cut through the air just as Peter swept the last loudmouth off his feet. He was back on his own feet in the next second, pressed up to his brother’s back and ready. It was only then that he and Ned registered the silence. Many students were staring at them in shock with a smattering of awe, the latter likely thankful that someone had finally punched Flash’s lights out.

Seeing the gym teacher outside the sudden ring of students explained the whistle. “Boys! What’s going on here?!”

Flash opened his mouth, but the glare Peter sent him had it closing just as quickly. The vigilante then held his hand out, wiggling his fingers to make Flash move faster to take it. “Sorry about that, Coach,” Peter spoke up as he made a show of helping the other teen up. He heard Ned pour a bottle of water behind him and easily lied, “There was a wet spot on the floor. I guess someone spilled their drink.”

“Well, waterskiing isn’t a sport here!” the teacher said loudly and shooed the other students. “You all can move along!”

Peter and Ned helped the other two to stand. Ned added for Flash’s benefit, “One of their feet caught caught him in the face. He might need an ice pack.”

“Come on, Thompson. Let’s go see the nurse.”

Neither trained teen moved as the rest of the bullies and students quickly vacated, though they weren’t surprised to find MJ waiting for them. “That was pretty smooth, losers,” she praised with the tiniest smile.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Peter replied with a little grin of his own, “The wet floor signs should’ve been out.”

Ned still glared down the hallway where Flash left. “I might have hit him with one if they were.”

Peter’s forced mirth faded as he leaned his shoulder against his brother’s. “Yeah… Maybe so.” The loss of Tony wouldn’t ever not hurt, but careless brats shoving it in their faces were entirely unnecessary. “Maybe I should’ve let Tony ask Doctor Strange to check for a curse.”

Ned finally snorted and cracked a smile, relaxing and wrapping an arm around Peter to guide them to their lockers. “Thanks for hanging back,” he said to MJ.

“Friends support each other,” she said simply then left to make it to her first period class before the bell.

“Dude,” Ned hissed as he turned to Peter, “when are you gonna ask her out?”

The vigilante wore a telling, dopey smile as he watched her walk away, blinking rapidly when Ned snapped his fingers under his nose. “Oh, sorry- What did you say?”

Ned dropped his forehead against the locker.

The Tower had never been sold, Tony deciding to simply convert it back into Stark Industries’ New York headquarters. After the loss of the Avengers Compound, the top few floors once again became their space. Pepper and Morgan spent their weekdays there and weekends at the lake house since it was easier for both Pepper’s job and Morgan’s school. Peter and Ned routinely dropped in after school to help with the R&D side of things. Harley was still at MIT, but he used breaks and a smaller holotable in his dorm to tag-team the workload alongside them.

Morgan was an absolute ray of sunshine. Peter could never deny her when she asked to ‘play Spider-Man,’ meaning do Spider-Man movements with her. There was a trampoline area in the Avengers gym. He used that when she wanted to swing, but sometimes she just wanted to be held the way only he could. They had known the little whirlwind for a few months by then.

“Welcome home, boys,” FRIDAY greeted and announced their presence, having changed from using Tony’s nicknames for them when it made the teens crumple to the floor in tears.

“Petey! Neddie!” Morgan shouted as soon as they came off the elevator, “I want stickies!”

Ned snickered even as Peter scooped her up onto his hip and made everywhere they touched stick to her, except her face. She liked to waffle between resting her head on his shoulder and looking around. “Hey, Momo,” he greeted and rubbed her back with his free hand.

“Hey there, Morgs. No kisses for your big brother Ned?” She made a fishy-face at him, and Ned leaned over for her to plant a wet smooch on his cheek. “How was school today?”

“Boooorrrriiiiing,” she grumpily sing-songed. “I can color here. I want to build a robot like Daddy!”

Peter and Ned shared a look. They could never say no to her, and she knew it. Peter offered, “If your mom says we can, then we will. Think about what kind you want to make.”

“Petey,” she said quietly and pushed her head closer to whisper, “I…want…a Spidey-bot.”

Ned joined in the whispered plotting, “Like Drony?”

“No. I don’t want it to fly,” she answered with all the assuredness of a Tony Stark who knew what he wanted. It made their hearts twinge in anguished love. “I want it to crawl around like the real Spider-Man.”

Peter furrowed his brow and mumbled, “I might be able to build something that imitates bioelectricity…”

Ned nudged his brother and declared, “Not until Pepper says yes.”

The vigilante half-frowned, half-pouted. “I can work on the concept.” He then gave his puppy eyes to Ned as he added, “I’ll need a genius to help code the bot, though. I wonder if there’s someone out there better at it than me?”

The non-enhanced teen cringed and held his hands in front of his face to shield himself. “Peter! Those eyes are a deadly weapon!”

“Use ‘em on Mommy, Petey! So we can build a Spidey-bot!”

Peter sighed and wilted in dramatic sadness. “I’m sorry, Momo… Pepper grew immune before we were introduced. She had to face your dad’s puppy eyes.”

Morgan sulked and muttered, “I didn’t get puppy eyes.”

Pepper caught the end of the conversation as she came out of the hallway leading to her room in pajamas. “Thank goodness for that,” she teased and kissed her daughter’s head. She dropped one each on Peter’s and Ned’s foreheads then asked, “Are you excited for Christmas, boys? Harley will make it this year.” She was so thankful for them. They helped her and Happy with Morgan and made it so she didn’t have to hire an outsider as the Head of R&D.

Christmas was a touchy subject. They had spent five years without Peter and Ned, the Snap making it hard for Tony and Pepper despite having Harley and then Morgan. Harley’s sister had been dusted, and his classes had been a mess. It had taken a year for schools to get back on track. When the Snap was reversed, they had just a few minutes where everything was a mess, but it was a hopeful mess. Then Thanos from 2014 attacked.

Happy, Harley, and Ned watched the recordings from the Iron Spider and Rescue suits, not wanting Peter and Pepper to be alone in the depth of their grief. May was caught up on the situation once she was found at the hospital. Pepper housed them all at the lake house for two weeks then put them up in the Tower when they had to rejoin the living.

“It’s gonna hurt,” Peter murmured finally in answer to Pepper’s question. His nose started to burn as tears welled, only a couple making it out before he took a deep breath. He swallowed roughly. “It’s gonna hurt a lot, but…we’ll make it through. We have each other. T-Tony…Tony gave us this… He-He didn’t like waste.”

Ned’s head was hanging low, but it didn’t hide his hitching shoulders. That didn’t hide the scent of tears from Peter, either, though he merely gently butted the side of his head against his brother’s. The movement was simple but comforting all the more because of it.

Pepper’s own cheeks were pink and eyes watery. She ran her hand through each of their hair, loosening the gel in Peter’s and freeing those curls. Her praise was a whisper, “You boys are such good kids.” After a moment, she let out a soft breath and visibly got herself back under control. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

Morgan’s answer was immediate, “Cheeseburgers!”

“Honey,” Pepper’s tone was amused but also a denial, “we had them last night…and the night before. And I know Uncle Happy got you one for a snack on the way home this afternoon. Why not let Peter or Ned choose?”

“Mmm, okay,” the child agreed too easily. “Petey, Neddie! Do you want cheeseburgers?”

Neither teen could keep a straight face, almost spitting with how fast they started laughing.

“Pizza?” Ned suggested.

“Lasagna?” Peter countered.

They then devolved into a best-two-out-of-three of Rock, Paper, Scissors that became a string of ties before Pepper rolled her eyes and declared, “I’m ordering Thai.” The irony made her smile.

They stopped, looked at each other, looked at an excited Morgan, then faced the CEO and replied, “Thai is good.”

“Our usual? FRIDAY, please send it in.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Boss.”

The next few months passed with Midtown Tech playing every documentary on Tony Stark and tearing the teens’ hearts open. MJ got good at causing a distraction so they could slip out of the room. For the first few times, Peter and Ned took turns treating her to whatever museum or movie she wanted. After the seventh occurrence, she only squeezed their hands.

Peter wanted to kiss her for it. Ned tried to get him to. Karen tried to get him to. May tried to bolster his courage. He finally explained that he wanted to do something special for her. Ned couldn’t believe MJ hadn’t already done something, but he’d noticed she had an interesting barrier of obliviousness when it came to herself.

The enhanced teen finally got his chance with Midtown Tech’s science tour in Europe.

A warning from Happy at FEAST about Fury calling Peter didn’t go over well, especially after the emotional rollercoaster of a year. Ned was rarely far from his brother’s side, however. While Spider-Man spoke with the reporters and deflected some questions with a Pepper flare, the non-enhanced teen answered Peter’s phone. They both were pretty sure they knew why Fury was calling. No threats slipped by Karen.

“Director Fury, I presume?”

“And just who are you?”

Ned raised a brow since there was no way Fury didn’t know who he was. They had met briefly at Tony’s funeral. “Spider-Man’s Guy in the Chair. I’d like to know why you’re bugging him after a tornado with a face hit a different country.”

“Oh, I see. You’re his secretary, huh?” Ned rolled his eyes at the attempt at riling him up. It may have worked before the Vulture…before the Blip…before Tony- “Well, Mr. Secretary, we’re calling in any available superheroes to help with a new threat.”

“Who else have you called? We’d like to know who’s on the team to coordinate properly.”

Fury was silent for just a few seconds too long.

Ned scowled and made sure it came through his voice when he growled, “Are you serious? You haven’t called anyone else?”

“We have a guy from another dimension already fighting these things, so we need support.”

He latched onto a few pieces of key information. Fury was never so forthcoming over the phone, for example. “‘These things?’ There are more of them?”

“Would you just put Spider-Man on the phone? I’d rather talk to the man himself.”

“Spider-Man is busy. Karen’s recording everything. You get me. Talk or I firewall you out.” Ned could and would make sure his brother wasn’t taken advantage of. Peter didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He had made pre-Snap Thanos stumble before the Mad Titan’s experience outweighed Peter’s capability.

“Okay, fine then, Mr. Secretary. Make sure you take notes. There are two Elementals left: water and fire. This guy tells us he came from another dimension where they destroyed his Earth. I don’t know how he got here, and I don’t really care. I just know he can fight these things. He already took out two.”

“‘Another dimension,’” he quoted, latching onto his next point. “Why not call Doctor Strange or Wong? Protecting our reality is their job. Sorcerer Supreme and all that.” Ned wasn’t willing to let anyone drag Peter to another country like this. Peter was extremely protective of his secret identity. Germany had been a huge gamble, and it was only through FRIDAY’s and Tony’s diligence that no one connected those dots. He doubted SHIELD would be so thorough. “Don’t you know anything about multiversal theory? That guy and his boss monsters being here is dangerous.”

“He can go back to his own dimension when these things are gone.”

Ned hadn’t missed how it was always referred to as another dimension instead of universe. The reporters suddenly got louder and distracted him. The curtain was thrown open by the Iron Spider’s legs, and he knew he needed to get off the phone.

“Send over all your files by midnight. We’ll get back to you,” he demanded in a bit of a snappy tone. “If you’re late, I’m blocking you from this phone and Happy’s phone.” He didn’t wait for a response, hanging up as the nanobots revealed Peter’s anguished face. His brother would always come first.

Peter buried his face against Ned’s shoulder and tried to keep his sobs quiet before managing to say, “…They kept asking if-if I’m…if I’m gonna be the-the next…Iron Man. I can’t- I’m not-”

“You’re Spider-Man,” Ned interrupted him, holding the other teen as tightly as he could. Seeing his brother suffer because of thoughtless people made him so angry, only compounding Fury’s bullshit. “You’re Peter Parker. Tony loved you as you are…so be that. To hell with them.”

Peter’s breath froze in his chest as the best advice he’d ever heard tumbled around in his head before he relaxed against his brother. It took a few moments for the pain clenching his heart to ease. He was more careful as he hugged his brother back and whispered, “You’re the best.” After a minute to calm down, he remembered seeing Ned on his phone and rather upset, so he quietly asked, “Who…was on the phone?”

“Eye-Patch,” Ned muttered, glad by the way Peter’s face pinched that he had taken the call. “He wants you to help with other monsters like ones in Mexico and Morocco. They’re a cross-dimensional threat, or so he said. Not much of what he said lines up. I don’t like it.” He checked around to make sure May hadn’t come back before picking the phone up. “Karen, can you play the recording, please?”

“Of course, Ned. Playing now.”

At first, Peter was torn between excitement at a mission and annoyance at his plans being disrupted. People needed help, and Ben, May, Tony, and Pepper had all taught him they came first. May and Pepper had put loving a hero into perspective, and it was something he could only hope MJ would accept. Soon enough, he understood the pieces of the puzzle Ned didn’t like. Asking for help was something Ned had pounded into Peter’s psyche more than anyone else alive.

Karen spoke up without prompting, “Peter, would you like me to call Doctor Strange?”

“Yes, that’d be great. Thanks, love.” Some of Tony’s speech patterns toward his AI had rubbed off on Peter, and he would never consciously stop it. That love and care was part of Tony’s legacy.

“You’re welcome, Peter.”

Doctor Strange answered on the second ring with a warm tone that was generally reserved for Peter and Ned, “Hey, kid. How are you?”

“Um, not great. You haven’t detected any, uh…” Peter paused to figure out the best way to say it, “reality-warping things, have you?”

Doctor Strange’s exasperated, tired sigh crackled over the speaker. “What did you do?”

Peter spluttered, “Wh-Why do you think I did anything?!”

Ned, at the same time, loudly scolded, “Rude!”

“Okay, fair,” Doctor Strange’s voice had a note of humor in it, “No, I haven’t sensed any cosmic catastrophes lately. I’d like to keep it that way.”

Ned rolled his eyes. “Can you check again? Fury called and said some cross-dimensional monsters plus some guy who’s fighting them are here.”

“…What.” It wasn’t a question. “He called kids to handle it? Are you serious?”

Peter’s brow furrowed as something else occurred to him. “He never referred to me or Ned by name. I don’t know if that was an act or not, but he only called me Spider-Man and made fun of Ned for being my Guy in the Chair.” He paced in a tight circle around a stack of boxes. “A lot of SHIELD is just like Ned, so that seems really out-of-character. Could this be someone imitating Fury to try to get to me? But why me? I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. I’m fast, but you can ramble like a rockslide, kid.” Peter and Ned both huffed a laugh, knowing it was true. “Those are all good points. Did he tell you anything else?”

Ned happily answered, “I noticed he kept saying ‘dimension’ even when I mentioned the multiverse. Also, I told him to send the files over by midnight or else I’d block him out. We thought it’d be a good idea to call you ahead of time.”

“Interesting… Yes, it was a good idea. Keep me apprised of the situation. I’ll look into some things.”

“Thank you, sir!” the teens chorused.

“What have I told you about that?”

“Sorry, Stephen.” They didn’t sound contrite at all, earning a single, amused laugh before the call ended.

After that and touching base with May, Peter decided to go out for a few hours to patrol and work off the remaining jitters from the reporters and Fury. Ned gave his parents a call to let them know he was going to the Tower. He remembered the story of Agent Coulson showing up unannounced and didn’t want that to happen at his house. He and his lola had been dusted. It was terrible for his family, but his parents were able to keep the house and still had his sister. Neither SHIELD nor many Avengers were welcome.

With thirty minutes to go until the deadline Ned had set, Agent Maria Hill was allowed onto the Avengers floors with a rugged computer case. Ned took it, thanked her for her punctuality, and quickly walked her back out. With that done, he took the elevator to Tony’s lab- decorated with many Tony the Tiger cutouts -and made sure there was no malware before throwing all of it up on the holotable.

Peter arrived shortly afterward, and they dug into the information. Ned could’ve hacked SHIELD to obtain it, which they were sure SHIELD knew and wanted to avoid. The teens wanted to foster some good will. Burning bridges wasn’t Peter and Ned’s style, but the days of actively putting out those fires when caused by someone else ended when Tony did.

They watched videos and read files long into the AM hours. Pepper had accepted their reasoning and left them be after making sure they had snacks and drinks. She returned a couple hours later to find Morgan stuck to Peter’s back and sleeping. The little girl could tell something was wrong, that something was coming, and Peter had made a joke about her developing her own tingle. His hadn’t stopped since before Happy had spoken to him.

“If this Quentin Beck guy is from another dimension,” Peter said as the sun was rising, “then he could be interfering with the one that’s here.” He glanced up at the ceiling, a habit Tony had actually picked up before- “FRIDAY, could you look up Quentin Beck, please? Find everything you can on him.”

“Certainly, Peter. Compiling now.”

“Thanks, doll,” he appreciated and moved on to the Elementals. “If they’re similar sizes… My webs can’t do anything to fire like that, and it would take a lot of webfluid for that much water.” He made a note to improve his fire-resistant webbing. “I wouldn’t be good for anything except corralling civilians. I’m happy to do that, but if this Beck guy needs help to fight these things, then they need more firepower than me.”

“Strong and sticky only does so much,” Ned agreed without sounding derogatory. “There’s no way Fury doesn’t know that. Why didn’t he call anyone else?”

Peter frowned at the holograms. “Good question. I know we’ve established it already, but… Ned, I don’t like this.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Ned assured, reaching over to initiate their handshake.

FRIDAY dinged to get their attention. “I’ve created a folder for Quentin Beck. Would you like to view it now?”

“Yes, please,” Ned answered FRIDAY, and both of them rapidly paled at what they found. “Okay… Okay-okay-okay…” Peter used a web to pull up a roller chair for him to sit in but never took his eyes off what he was seeing.

Quentin Beck had led a team for SI who specialized in illusions. They couldn’t even find it in themselves to laugh at Tony calling it BARF. “FRIDAY, would you please find everything on BARF? Patents, milestones, and the team. If anyone resigned or was fired, please have the reasons listed.” She didn’t bother with an acknowledgement. The information took less than a second to find due to it being on SI servers.

“Only one of the team is still here,” Ned noticed, liking this situation less and less. “FRI, who else was fired or resigned around the same time as the rest of these people?”

“Do you want a dossier similar to the one for Quentin Beck?”

“Yes, please,” Peter answered and complimented, “You’re brilliant, love.”

The teen genii started to fall down a rabbit hole that saw MJ texting them to check in. They were thankful to already be out of school for the summer. They couldn’t say they would’ve cared to make it that day even if they had been in school and had tests.

Doctor Strange broke them out of their dive by opening a portal into the lab. He stepped through, looked them up and down, then sighed heavily and said, “You do realize it’s almost lunchtime, don’t you?” They looked horribly rumpled and had dark circles already taking shape under their eyes.

Peter pointed at the trashcan full of snack bags and wrappers. “We’ll sleep later. This is important.” His metabolism had always been his biggest hurdle, which was covered by his now-paid intern job at Stark Industries. “What do you have for us, Stephen?”

Doctor Strange gave an amused smile, seeing Tony’s determination in the teens, then became serious. “I checked both locations that those Elementals spawned at.” He thought his news would bring the teens some relief. “I found electromagnetic signals, but there are no signs of dimensional or multiversal rifts or tears.” Peter and Ned sharply looked at each other, their faces paling a little further and alarming the sorcerer. “Perhaps you should fill me in on what’s going on.”

They gladly summarized everything they had found from Quentin Beck to his work at SI to his team to other people and their projects that he may have recruited after they left or were fired by Tony.

“Hmm…” Doctor Strange hummed then smiled. “Well, when you know your enemy, the battle is half-won.” Peter and Ned gave him a curious look, but he was sure that they weren’t firing on all cylinders with how tired they looked. “It may be best to catch him at his own game. Can you act well enough to do that?”

Peter frowned and stared forlornly out the window. “So much for that summer trip…”

Doctor Strange eyed him for a moment. “Remember, you’re supposed to act. So…act like how they expect.” He smirked at the dubious look both Peter and Ned gave him. “You already ghosted Fury, didn’t you? He’s likely expecting to have to take drastic measures to obtain your cooperation.”

“He’s got a point,” Ned told his brother. “Those are just illusions, and if we’re careful, no one will be put in danger.”

“I can help with that,” Doctor Strange offered. “Before you leave, I’ll make protection medallions for you to slip in the other kids’ pockets that’ll transfer the spells to them.” He placed a hand each, careful and trembling, on their shoulders. “Enjoy the trip and know that you aren’t alone in this.” Opening a portal, he paused before stepping through and leaned close to Peter to say, “Take it from someone who loved and lost- Don’t waste time.”

Peter’s face glowed as the sorcerer left. “I have a plan,” he grumbled.

Ned was sleep-deprived enough to give an annoyed huff and say, “Uuuggghh… You and your plans, dude. Leave that crap for the lab and just ask her out before someone like Brad does!”

“But the glass pendant and the Eiffel Tower!”

“Like asking her to be your girlfriend beforehand means you can’t do that?!”

Peter opened his mouth with an angry scowl, pausing as the words finally broke through the haze of sleeplessness.

“Yeah, there’s that brain,” Ned teased him and laughed when Peter pouted. “Let’s sleep on it. Morgs’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. When you’re right, you’re right.”

Three days before the Europe trip, and with much urging- plus threatening to do it for him -from Ned, Peter texted MJ and asked to meet up for a late lunch. Her response was a simple ‘Sure, loser’ that had him relieved. He asked her to wear something nice but not fancy and dressed in a button-down, red plaid shirt with his nicest, deepest-blue jeans. It occurred to Peter that he certainly had a color theme.

Tony and Happy had taught Peter and Ned to drive, along with Tony routinely making them drive most cars in his garage. By then, it was nothing for Peter to ask Pepper for the keys to one of the less-flashy vehicles. Driving to MJ’s like that, with some of Tony’s favorites playing on the radio, made him feel like his mentor was there with him and cheering him on. Tony would’ve been all over him with teasing and advice. Peter made sure to think of that ‘little grey area’ where he was safe to operate.

Pepper and Morgan were wonderful, so Tony must have done at least a few things right.

Exiting the car and smoothing the wrinkles in his shirt gave Peter a moment to breathe. He’d been to MJ’s house, met her dad who got a reality check with the Blip- even if she still didn’t much care for using her dad’s last name, and hung out there with Ned. His last date’s dad turned out to be a criminal who dropped a warehouse on Peter. While the nervousness was mostly paranoia, he felt it was reasonably justified and bounced on the balls of his feet for half a minute to shake the jitters.

His danger sense wasn’t tingling at all when the door was answered. That alone helped him relax, despite losing all his cool at spotting MJ in a lovely, floral dress that complemented her so well. His mouth opened and closed uselessly a few times. A few locks of hair framed her face and drew his eyes to hers, and he was a bit relieved to see she was wearing barely any makeup. She didn’t need it. She was so-

“Holy- Wow, you’re really pretty.” He praised his tendency to fill tense silences for blurting a compliment instead of a joke and for not stuttering like an idiot.

“And, therefore, I have value?”

“What- No, that’s not- I-I didn’t-”

She grinned and soothed, “I’m messing with you, Peter. Thanks. You’re…pretty, too.”

He couldn’t decide whether to be embarrassed, pleased, or confused. His face turned into an amalgam of all three that made her giggle. “Uh…thank you.” He smiled when a light pink dusted her cheeks.

After some small talk, Peter politely excused them so they could make their reservation, earning raised eyebrows from MJ’s dad and stepmom. They hadn’t been unimpressed with him. Now, though, the only secret he kept about his job was that he was actually one of three co-Heads of R&D instead of only an intern. Giving a full-time job like that to a sixteen-year-old still in high school wasn’t normal- probably not legal, either.

MJ taking his arm to walk to the car made Peter forget all about that. Her hand fit so well over his bicep, and having her warmth and scent so close made him bashful. He didn’t care that she was taller than him, liked it in fact. Her intense stare, brilliant mind, and blunt words left him breathless- in the best way -more than any possibility of looming height ever had.

She could loom over him all day, and Peter would’ve thanked her.

Opening her door for her earned him an amused smirk and the playful comment, “My faith in chivalry has been rekindled.”

MJ could wind him up one second and soothe him in the next. It was dizzying in the best way. He grinned and said, “I’d be happy if it’s just faith in me instead of an idea.” Closing the door cut off any reply she had since he didn’t want that confession to be brushed aside. Her gaze was thoughtful and warm when he started the car.

“So…where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” he answered immediately, smiling when her face went a bit deadpan. “Oh, c’mon, MJ. I know better than you not liking surprises.”

“Getting jump-scared by a dude with a chainsaw is a bad surprise.”

Peter opened and closed his mouth a couple of times then muttered, “Okay, that’s fair. But since when do haunted houses do reservations for two people?”

A frown of consideration appeared on her face before it relaxed, and she nodded. “Also fair. So it’s not a haunted house, and it’s not super fancy, but it’s just fancy enough to need reservations.”

“We’re almost there, Detective Jones,” he assured her, snickering when she rolled her eyes.

Her jaw dropped open and eyes widened just enough to show her pleased surprise when they pulled into a small parking lot. She looked at him in amazement. Her voice was a soft, shocked whisper as she admitted, “…I mentioned wanting to try this place once, Peter… And it was four months ago…”

Peter blushed and couldn’t help a nervous smile. “Uh- Well, yeah- I mean- I just…wanted to do…something nice? For-For you?”

Her sharp eyes watched him for a few seconds before softening. “Nailed it, dork,” she praised and smiled at his pleased, shy grin. He got out, opened her door, and relaxed when she took his arm. Soon enough, they were seated on a small balcony with two tables and only theirs being occupied. “Aren’t you afraid of heights?” she wondered while staring over the three-story-high railing.

He’d never made that obvious, but his tingle had gone off from MJ’s eyes on him a lot, so he figured he shouldn’t have been surprised. “Where did you hear that?”

Something in his gaze and tone made her nervous, so she half-snapped, “I’m not obsessed, just very observant.” Peter pursed his lips to try not to smile. “It wasn’t so obvious after we went to the Washington Monument…but you didn’t even go up in the elevator.”

A bit of his mirth faded as worry crept in. The server arrived, however, to take their drink orders, and silence reigned as they looked over the menu before the server returned. While waiting for their food, Peter steeled himself with a deep breath. His question still came out too hesitant for his peace of mind, “Hey, MJ? Can I…ask you something? Please?”

She looked up at him. Her brow furrowed for only a moment before she looked away and blurted, “Are you gonna ask if I know you’re Spider-Man?”

Peter’s brain stalled. It felt like someone driving a manual couldn’t find the clutch or gears. For two seconds that seemed like two eternities, he couldn’t breathe. His lungs ached and begged him to draw in a few, tiny gasps. This was all the wrong kinds of dizzying.

He wondered if he was going to end up in her sketchbook.

“If that’s what you were gonna say, then yeah, I already figured that out. Told you, I’m observant.” She still hadn’t looked back at him. He didn’t know if that was better or worse as his vision blackened a little around the edges. “If this is some…special thing to ask me not to tell anyone, I wouldn’t. You matter- You’re… I don’t want to hurt you.”

That stammer at the end of her words finally let him draw in a lungful of air. “MJ,” he croaked, finally pulling her attention back to him. Sheer panic took over her face, and it made him wonder just how bad he looked. A jumbled mess of words slipped off his normally smoother tongue, “MJ…I was…ask…girlfriend…”

“…Oh.” Her cheeks turned a rather fetching shade of red that brought out little flecks of color in her eyes that Peter hadn’t noticed before. He was still so smitten, and his mind played tricks on him with Tony’s snickering. “Uh… Well, this is awkward.”

The server came back, then, and seemed to be a bit baffled by the tension. With their food dropped off and drinks refilled, the poor employee tried not to scurry away.

Peter wanted to drop his face in his food and fake a heart attack. With the way the organ was pounding despite normally running slower after the spider bite, he thought he might have been able to get away with it. It wasn’t often that MJ was too flustered to speak. He figured it was better to try to break the tension than ruin their friendship, so he lifted his fork, picked at his food, and mumbled, “I guess I’m too late to try to deny what you said, huh?”

“Um… A little. So…you are?” she whispered, wanting confirmation from the Spider himself. He nodded a bit miserably. “Wow… It explains so much… Your absences, you and Ned shaping up, taking down Flash and his cronies at the start of the year… That was a dead giveaway, by the way.”

That plate of food was looking more like face paint the longer Peter eyed it. “Do you think anyone else figured it out yet?” He was totally going to end up in her sketchbook.

“Maybe Susan, Betty, and Cindy have an inkling, but Susan thinks you’re a male escort-”

His head jerked up and looked at MJ in pure horror- sketchbook feature number three. “I am not a male escort!”

MJ couldn’t help spitting with how fast a few laughs burst out of her, but then she wondered, “Is that better or worse than her thinking you’re Spider-Man?”

Peter’s mouth opened to answer before he paused. His brow furrowed as his lips flattened into a line. “I don’t know,” was his painfully honest response. She still hadn’t answered his real question, but he didn’t know if that was a good thing or not, either. Realizing that made him drop his head and slump his shoulders. “…Were you only watching me because you thought I was Spider-Man?” The possibility hurt.

Even not looking at her, he was hyper-aware of her heartbeat and breathing picking up. He’d never meant to make her panic. He cringed, clenched his fist, and completely wrecked the fork in his grip, gasping in dismay and dropping it. A moment later, her hand laid over his.

“Peter,” she called to obtain his undivided attention despite how it made her heart rate pick up even faster. “I don’t usually…have great luck with…letting people in.” Her voice was so unsure and hurt, and he hunched slightly due to the ache in his chest from hearing it. She relaxed a little when he turned his hand over to press their palms together. “If you expect disappointment, you’ll never be disappointed… But you haven’t.” He sat up a little straighter, his heart in his throat. “You deserve better than that. So yeah… I want to try.” She also knew Ned would flip out on her if she let her own insecurities be the reason she broke his brother’s heart.

Peter was starstruck- Flying- Breathless- He was glad she was looking at his face and saw his happy smile because he couldn’t speak yet. She did that silent, singular laugh that started in her diaphragm and rocked her upper body back just a little. He loved it. There was hope that she had a ‘happy face’ sketchbook.

Leaning forward, he lifted her hand to press it against his cheek then kissed her palm just to hear her heart speed up again.

The waiter returned to check on them, visibly relieved by the lack of a stressed atmosphere, and didn’t blink an eye at replacing Peter’s mangled fork. Both he and MJ snickered as they returned to their food and a much happier night.

When he dropped her off, MJ surprised him with a quick peck of a kiss. “You-You kissed me,” he mumbled stupidly, his cheeks warming with a light blush.

“I did,” she agreed in a strong voice that was betrayed by her tiny, shy smile.

“Can, um… Can you do it again? Ya know, for science?”

“‘For science?’” she deadpanned then rolled her eyes and muttered, “You’re such a dork, Parker.”

He got to catch her cheek with his hand that time, maintaining the chaste contact until she leaned back. “…Mmm…” he hummed and grinned at her quirked brow. “I’m gonna need more examples.” It took swinging through the city and performing adrenaline-junkie stunts to get his heart racing that fast.

MJ giggled, and it was lovely. “Maybe when my dad isn’t watching.”

Peter blinked and glanced at the window where Mr. Watson was doing a Batman-thing, learning why his danger sense was buzzing. “Uh, yeah… Right. Maybe not on the lips, then?”

“There’s that smooth guy,” she teased and pecked his cheek.

He was so far beyond smitten.

Chapter Text

Before they reached the airport, Peter, MJ, and Ned managed to slip Doctor Strange’s talismans in everyone’s pocket. Ned also quietly traded tickets with MJ so that she and Peter could sit together. He didn’t consider sitting beside Betty as taking one for the team, anyway.

Flash started to open his mouth, but one very evil glare from Ned silenced him, and MJ finished nailing the coffin by informing the stewardess that the bully had been Blipped. Most of the class snickered, and Betty looked at the coding genius in a new light. She was considerate enough to not play the available Tony Stark documentary, and they both cooed when MJ and Peter fell asleep against each other.

Brad attempted to offer a seat on the bus to MJ. Peter wasn’t about to step on that landmine, knowing he didn’t have to defend her in a battle of wits. MJ’s half-unimpressed, half-disinterested look said it all. Ned made sure to take a strategic seat so that he could see both problem-children, and Betty didn’t fail to notice because she was on the watch for MJ. He didn’t miss Peter and MJ doing the same for him and Betty, respectively.

Ned was, maybe, getting bitten by the love-bug, too. Only when he was sure Peter was safe did he entertain those thoughts. Their first full day in Venice both ruined and aided everything. Betty saw how he and MJ weren’t panicking over Peter being missing- correction, sneaking off to buy MJ’s gift -when attacked by the water monster, which he knew was an illusory Elemental. What to look for was obvious after his and Peter’s research. Because of that, he found signs of drones in the water and that they were what was causing the actual damage.

Peter played his part, finding the supposed-dimensional warrior and offering his help. He had packed his nanosuit with its metal-detector-immune housing on his belt, having modified it to accept one of Tony’s tiny arc reactors. With other modifications, he was prepared to jump into the fight with a solid-black suit.

Karen highlighted all the drones as Spider-Man’s mask recorded the attack, holding off on sending it to the Italian authorities. No civilians were hurt thanks to his efforts. Keeping that bell tower from falling was hard with Beck targeting it once he was inside.

Peter was a bit blindsided when Betty handed him an ice pack for the bruise from hitting his head on the bell. “Don’t use your head as a gong, Parker,” she told him and said nothing more. He was shocked over having more people in his corner.

Ned clapped him on the shoulder and confessed, “Peter… I think I’m in love. We’ll all meet in MJ and Betty’s room for dinner, okay? Double date?”

“You guys got close on the plane, huh?”

“Didn’t take as long as you and MJ did.”

Peter let his head drop back with a groan and grumbled, “Point.” He wasn’t going to live that down. MJ took advantage of his tilted-back head to press a quick kiss to his lips before leaving. “H-Hey! That’s theft!” he called after her with a pout, “MJ! You can’t just run off with my heart like that!”

Ned snickered. “Dude, that line could be poured on nachos.”

Peter flushed lightly and shrugged, not caring how bad it sounded when it made her smile at him over her shoulder like that. Returning to their hotel room saw fatigue settling in. They changed into their pajamas, then Peter sent Ned to MJ and Betty’s room to order dinner from the ground-floor restaurant. Ned hadn’t missed him tensing from his danger sense tingling.

Once Ned was gone, Peter turned to face Fury. He noticed the gun, and in a frequency too quiet for non-enhanced ears, Karen from his phone informed him, “Tranquilizer darts. Recording and broadcasting to Ned now.”

“So, uh…you plannin’ on sleepin’ here?” he asked and gestured to the two beds. “Ned and I can share, or you and Ned can share. I get really clingy in my sleep, so unless you like hugs-”

Fury gave him an annoyed glare and interrupted, “Enough of the babble, Parker. You are a very hard person to reach-”

Peter had to fight off a smirk when Mr. Harrington knocked and checked in on him. “We’ll be in bed by curfew, sir,” he assured respectfully, “Just gonna eat with our friends first.” The teacher closed the door behind him, which was probably the best option.

“As I was saying, you saw the files. We have monsters attacking, and the only Avenger I can reach is ghosting me-”

The amusement was even harder to hold back when a knock came on the door. “Peter!” Betty called through the door, “Your food’s getting cold! Don’t brush your teeth before you eat, silly!” Fury looked between him and the door with fury- pun fully intended. “Ned says you’ll eat it anyway, but you deserve hot food.”

“Aww, thanks, Betty! I’ll be there in a few!” he assured her to get her to go.

“If someone else touches that door, I will put this,” Fury lifted the gun, “to use. Understand me, Parker?”

Peter channeled Tony so hard. “Oh, really? You’re the one in a hotel and interrupting my school trip. I couldn’t have called you, anyway, Mr. No Caller ID.”

“I haven’t seen you since the funeral, and that seemed like an inappropriate place to exchange contact details.” That was weirdly understanding for Director Fury. He hadn’t cared that Tony and Rhodey had careers, that Miss Romanoff was in deep-cover, or that Dr. Banner was both in-hiding and using his medical knowledge to help the less fortunate. Peter didn’t like it at all. It was entirely out of character.

“Yeah,” he finally murmured, trying to sound grateful but only feeling pained by all the heartache. “Thanks. That would’ve been inappropriate.”

“So, I need you to come with me. We have more information, and we need to update you.”

Peter’d had enough at this point. His stomach was snarling so loudly he knew Fury could hear it. “Look, you don’t have an enhanced metabolism. I don’t expect you to understand, but I’m hungry after earlier. I have three entrées waiting on me.” Fury’s eyebrows climbed as a weirdly impressed expression took over his face. Peter wasn’t sure whether it was the amount of food he could put away or if it was him standing up to the SHIELD leader. “You can either wait half an hour or go without me.”

“Okay, then,” Fury replied amicably, sounding almost friendly, “Go stuff your face, Parker. I’ll still be here.”

As Peter walked by, his danger sense tingled, then he heard the rustle of clothing, the trigger being pulled, and the sound of the dart slicing through the air, and he caught it before it could pierce his neck. His entire demeanor shifted to a highly displeased Pepper Stark. “Director,” he snapped coldly, “I’d advise you don’t ever do that again. I’m an Avenger.” He earned that place twice over. “Since the fall of SHEILD, they’ve been independent.” He made sure that eye was on his when he finished, “You don’t command me.”

He didn’t wait for a response, keeping the dart and leaving the room. Karen informed him that she stopped recording. He was thankful for modifying a few extra sensors of FRIDAY’s for his AI friend, not sure if he’d have picked up at first that the gun was loaded with tranqs.

Ned was on him the instant he shut the door of MJ and Betty’s room. “Dude, you okay? Karen broadcasted everything to me. Here, sit- Gimme that,” he took the dart, “Eat. It’s still warm.”

“If that is Fury, I might throw him off a building.” Peter tried not to think about the sudden jump in Betty’s heartbeat at the nonchalant threat. “Talk about being inappropriate then try to tranq me? What the fuck?”

“‘What the fuck,’ indeed,” Ned assured him as his brother dug in. “They’re not taking you anywhere without me.” He had his own nanosuit with Karen plus gloves and boots that used Peter’s bioelectric sticky invention. Harley had decided to make a suit between Iron Man and Rescue. “In case you’re wondering, we already ate.”

“Sorry, guys…” Peter mumbled after finishing his first plate. He then focused on Betty and gave a comforting smile before asking, “How’re you holding up? You got hit with a lot today.”

Betty looked surprised for a moment. “Well, I guess it didn’t really hit me until now. I’m more worried about you, honestly. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her while polishing off his second plate, “I’m used to this and worse. You aren’t, and even if you were, I’d still ask. I still ask Ned, and he trained with me.”

“Worry wart,” Ned teased as he disassembled the dart.

MJ reached over to lift Peter’s chin and gently inspect the bruise from earlier. “It’s almost gone. Good news: you’ll live.”

“A kiss would make it feel better.”

“The cheese,” Ned teased him, though MJ still pressed a soft kiss to the spot. Ned quickly melted and let it go when Betty kissed his cheek. “Okay, that is nice. Peter, kiss teasing is officially off-limits.”

“Oh, just when I can tease back, huh? Not yet. I’m covering my own nachos right now.” Peter let out a relieved sigh as he finished his last plate and stacked their dishes. “I could probably go for two more of those,” he admitted then rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t be able to eat in peace, though.” He patted Ned on the shoulder then stole his own kiss from MJ and grinned at her pout. “Hey, look. We have seven minutes to spare.”

Betty mentioned in an astonished tone of voice, “You ate three whole entrées in less than twenty-five minutes, Peter…”

“A lot of practice,” he told her, smiling when a few surprised giggles slipped out of her.

“Where’s this sass at in school? It’s fun. You’re way too meek.”

Peter shrugged. “Puny Parker is weak and doesn’t fight back. It’s part of hiding my identity. The wit is still there, but it’s toned down a lot.” He smiled sadly and murmured, “Tony hated that I hide like that.”

Ned bumped shoulders with him and reminded, “He hated that I hide the rabid demon in me, too,” then left his phone on the bed. “If you ladies need us, ask Karen to call Peter, okay?”

“Karen?”

“Good evening, ladies. I am Karen, Peter’s and Ned’s AI assistant.”

“Oh… Hi, Karen!” MJ and Betty greeted, “Nice to meet you!”

“The pleasure is mine.”

“She’s so kind!” Betty complimented.

“Karen, be a doll and maintain sensors on this room. Alert us if anyone who isn’t a class member comes inside and overstays their welcome. You have their biometrics scanned, right?”

“Yes, Peter. Understood. Ned, please plug in your phone.”

“I got it,” Betty assured them all, her phone having the same charger shape.

Ned tapped his foot for a second before saying, “Hey, Karen, don’t worry about broadcasting. We’ll use our suit recordings. We don’t know what Beck is capable of yet.”

“Understood, Ned.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Peter said to the phone, not caring about the odd looks from MJ and Betty. Karen was so much more than just an AI. She was a technological child of Tony Stark, and that alone made her so important to him. “We gotta go. It might be late when we get back. You don’t have to wait up.”

MJ scoffed quietly and refuted, “No. We’ll wait up because we want to.”

Peter stole another kiss.

“So,” Ned muttered toward Betty, “Can I get one yet?”

“If you don’t mind garlic breath.” He most certainly did not mind garlic breath and got his own couple of chaste pecks. “Go on. You’re pushing the thirty minutes now.”

Fury was actually still waiting when Peter and Ned returned to their room. He aimed that tranquilizer gun at Ned, but Peter snatched it with a web. “First and only warning: you touch Ned, and we’re done.” A moment later, nanobots crawled across both him and Ned.

Spider-Man’s formed into that solid-black suit with white eyes. Ned’s was normally green-and-yellow with purple accents and eyes. For now, his was purely grey with green eyes to set him apart from Spider-Man. They stepped up to the window, and Spider-Man looked back at Fury to say, “See you on ground level,” before they both climbed down.

“That is still so cool,” Ned breathed, flexing his fingers once on the ground. He didn’t have Spider-Man’s strength, but he could still climb like a human, and the stickiness made it much easier.

“Karen,” Spider-Man prompted his AI, “do you have enough processing power to keep sensors up for us and the ladies?”

“Of course, Spider-Man. I’m not a subpar system.”

“Oof, okay,” the vigilante back-peddled, “Shots fired by accident. Sorry, dear.”

“You’re forgiven.”

He and Ned glanced at each other and fidgeted nervously, somehow still reading the other through a suit of armor and a mask. Fury distracted them by floating up in a boat. Spider-Man barely heard his words after a glasses case was handed to him that Tony apparently gave to SHIELD to pass along. Nothing about that felt right. The man trusted SHIELD as much as he trusted the UN and World Security Council- which was not at all.

Tony listed Fury as a pall bearer, but it wasn’t out of trust. Iron Man had gotten into plenty of messes of his own, yet Fury had put the Avengers Initiative into his head, even if only as a consultant. Tony had known it would be the death of him. He wanted Fury to carry him out.

Ned’s soft hiss made Peter look up, and he closed the case while paying Fury no attention. Karen highlighted multiple drone signatures. Too bad for Beck that, this time, Spider-Man and Ned were close enough for Karen to trace their signals, which she did without prompting. They really adored her.

Soon, they were docking in a canal under a bridge. Fury’s comment about them not needing their masks was completely ignored, especially after they spotted Beck. He looked a bit nervous when they didn’t immediately trust him.

Their identities were sacred. There would come a day that they wouldn’t be secret, but they both needed it to be when they were older. Having Fury casually dismiss that was insulting.

“So, fill us in,” Ned prompted, “You said you had new information.” They looked all around the area and found two cloaked drones.

Beck then explained that the Elementals were formed out of dying stars, which was a bit ridiculous to both genii. Outer space was a horrible atmosphere for a wind, water, or fire creature. He talked about dimensions, which Spider-Man appropriately declared the multiverse and geeked out over it- and he had once before with Doctor Strange and Wong. Ned piped in a few bits of thought, but they needed Spider-Man to remain the focus.

It was still annoying that the dimensional thing kept being pushed. He knew other dimensions existed- like Dormammu, Mephisto, and the Mirror Dimension, but he also wondered how Beck knew about other universes yet kept mixing them up. Peter would share his thoughts with Ned later. They couldn’t take a chance of this guy being able to fool SHIELD on plain luck and a good story.

The unstable phony attempted to endear himself to Spider-Man when all the eyes in the room glazed over during his ramble by saying, “Don’t ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room.” Thankfully, Ned’s mask hid him rolling his eyes. Beck then moved on to saying he could use Spider-Man’s help, which was a moment they’d been waiting for.

“Guys, we’re here with classmates,” Spider-Man told them all and played up Beck’s shocked look. “Sorry, dude, we’re still in high school. So, yeah, we didn’t know the water monster was going to be here, but we can’t blast off all over the world. Plus, Spider-Man can’t be seen in another country. The Accords haven’t been repealed yet.” They had more concerns than only secret identities at that point.

Ned picked up from there by saying, “Spider-Man has been known as an Avenger since Tony returned from Titan.”

“Uh…who are you, exactly?” Beck wondered, staring at the green eyes of Ned’s mask.

The coding genius didn’t let the attempt at making him seem lesser get to him and answered, “Dude, I’m his Guy in the Chair. Pretty sure you had a few in your dimension, right?” He smiled under his mask when Beck’s eyes narrowed. “Point is: we can’t help you until you get the all-clear from the countries’ governments.”

Spider-Man nodded, doing a little fidget with the glasses case. It was the same trick Beck had done with a wedding ring, and he smirked under his mask when those eyes zeroed in on it. FRIDAY’s search hadn’t shown any marriages in the man’s past. It was funny to use the illusionist’s own trick against him, though he continued where Ned left off, “Since you were here before the blown-fire-hydrant showed up, I’m guessing you have a way to track the Elementals. Get us clearance, then we can help.”

“Before we go,” Ned added, “Fury, give us your number and another one you trust. I’m blocking No Caller ID after this.” He planned to reroute their numbers to a scam telemarketer. It’d be a win on all fronts for them.

“All right, fine,” Fury said as he threw his hands up. Hill handed them a piece of paper with his and her phone numbers. “You wanna go live out your teenage dreams and let people get killed? That’s on you-”

“No,” Spider-Man interrupted with a tone his mentor would’ve been proud of, “That’s on you for not maintaining contact with other heroes.” Tony would roll over in his grave if the vigilante took that lying down. “Thor’s off-planet? So is Captain Marvel-”

“Don’t invoke her name.”

Spider-Man rolled his eyes with an obvious motion of his head. “She has a pager, so why not Thor? Pretty sure something threatening New Asgard would get his attention. Or Captain America? Bucky’s not off-world. Hawkeye isn’t off-world. Miss Belova isn’t off-world. Dr. Banner isn’t off-world. Black Panther isn’t off-world. Pretty sure the ruler of Wakanda would have a vested interest in preventing Earth’s destruction. Stephen and Wong aren’t off-world. Protecting our reality is their thing the last time I checked.” He was starting to wonder if, somehow, they knew he was coming to Venice with his school.

He made note of how anxious Beck was starting to look as he rambled before Hill cut in, “Every single one of those people have their own things they’re doing-”

Ned interrupted with, “Like we aren’t? Oh, thanks. Chopped liver over here. The problem with the Accords still stands. We’ll see you guys later.” He wanted to cut his brother off before they blew it. Karen had finished tracing the signals, and she updated both of their phones with the new contact details.

Spider-Man felt like he was tracking a drug or trafficking ring at this point. The amount of patience and information gathering was starting to grate on his nerves and make him antsy. He needed to get out- He couldn’t go swinging- Ned’s hand on his shoulder drew his attention, and he followed his brother’s lead.

Being under the bridge with all the confrontation, acting, heartbeats, footsteps, drips and trickles and whooshes of water, and even ticking watches was pushing him toward a migraine.

Soon enough, they were back in their room. Ned knocked on the wall that connected to the ladies’ room while Peter dug out some high-protein and high-carb snacks he had bought earlier. He was happy to melt between MJ and Ned while the four of them talked.

He sat his Tony-special StarkPhone on its back for a hologram to float above it and play back the recording of the meeting with Beck. It was from both his and Ned’s perspectives with the audio synchronized perfectly. Peter offered to share his snacks while they watched.

“Peter,” Karen stated once the video was over, “I’m certain you’ve already surmised this, but there is a high probability that Beck knows who you are. The first two Elementals appeared in Ixtenco, Mexico, and then Morocco, Africa. Venice, Italy, is not the only city built on water. It is the only one built on water that is part of the itinerary. SHIELD and Beck have tracked the last one to Prague, Czech Republic. The Carnival of Lights is currently taking place there.”

“…Fury said they’re tracking these things. Stephen mentioned traces of electromagnetic signals. Is that it?”

“That appears to be the case, Peter. They were registered in all three locations by SHIELD along with new readings appearing in Prague.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Peter spoke up, the three with him agreeing. “There’s no way that it isn’t planned with the first two appearing on two separate continents and the last two both appearing in Europe… It’s starting to look like I’m the target, but first… Karen, where did you trace those signals from the drones?”

“There was one location near us that faded out upon your return to the hotel. I have discovered another with similar signals near Prague.”

“That’s expected,” Ned said and also received agreement. “Peter, what else is on your mind?”

Peter held up the glasses case and asked, “Did you see Beck’s face when I played with this?”

“Yeah, like he’d seen a pot of gold.”

“Remember Fury said Tony left them for me? Why did Fury have them to begin with? Why did it take a year to get them to me?” the enhanced teen wondered, knowing they had no answer. By the look on Ned’s face, the other genius was wondering if SHIELD took something meant for him. Peter silently swore to make sure any last gifts from Tony for his brother weren’t withheld as bargaining chips.

Peter opened the case and put on the blue glasses then looked at the card inside. His and Ned’s breath immediately hitched at seeing Tony’s handwriting, both having had a hard time even a year later with seeing so many murals and memorials for Iron Man and Tony Stark. Peter managed to read aloud, “‘For the next…next Tony Stark, I-I-I trust you. -TS / P.S. S-Say EDITH.’”

The lenses lit up just slightly. “Standby for retinal and biometric scan.” A card with that awful school picture popped up in Peter’s vision. He looked like such a dork, and Tony had loved it. “Retinal and biometric scan completed.”

Swallowing roughly, Peter asked quietly, “Uh…hi?”

“Hello, Peter. I am EDITH, Tony Stark’s augmented reality security and defense system.”

“…Hello, EDITH,” the choked-up teen greeted with a watery smile, “It’s good to meet you. Do you have a speaker function so that Ned can hear you?

“I am pleased to meet you, as well, Peter. I certainly do. Activating. Hello, Ned.”

“Holy crap, that is so cool,” Ned whispered through the lump in his throat. “Hi, EDITH.”

“Tony has entrusted me to Peter. His death was untimely, but he learned from your mistake of hacking Karen’s system, so there is a mandatory Training Wheels protocol before you obtain access to all my features.” Peter and Ned both did a half-cough, half-laugh and wiped their eyes. “If you would like to start now, please confirm.”

Peter realized then that EDITH was so young. He figured Tony made her during the Blip in case of another attack. “Not right now, but thank you, EDITH. It’s a bit late, and we’ve had a long day.”

“I understand, Peter. My sensors detect Karen within your vicinity. If you would like for me to interface with her, please direct the glasses toward your StarkPhone or your nanosuit.”

“Just a second, sweetheart,” his voice went soft like always on the term of endearment before he asked, “Hey, Karen? Want to meet your little sister, EDITH?”

“Certainly, Peter. Enjoy your rest,” Karen advised.

Once the AIs were conferring, Peter took off the glasses and slumped tiredly. His headache was starting to come back, and he pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. MJ leaned into him more and alternated between rubbing his back and trailing her nails along it. Not even Ned was strong enough to massage his muscles. The comfort helped more than anything, though the pleasant shivers were nice. “Okay, guys… Parker Luck dictates everything that can go wrong will go wrong and will do so in the worst, most-dangerous way possible. Be ready for anything.”

Betty looked between Peter and Ned before saying, “This gets pretty intense, doesn’t it?”

Peter’s voice was dry as he answered, “That’s an understatement.”

Ned looked up at her with a bit of sadness but a lot of understanding. “If you don’t want to do this-”

“I never said that,” Betty interrupted him, earning a smirk from MJ. “I don’t mind offering another brain and set of eyes or some extra investigative help if you need it. I’m slowly building connections at school as the newscaster there. People need help, right? I’m happy to help Spider-Man give that help.”

“You’re so awesome, babe,” Ned praised her with a dopey smile.

Betty gave him goo-goo eyes. “Aww, thanks, babe!”

Peter and MJ snickered. They knew they were just as bad.

The next morning, Peter’s plans to give the glass Black Dahlia necklace to his girlfriend on the Eiffel Tower were shot to hell. He and Ned recognized Dimitri standing outside the huge tour bus. They shared a look as MJ and Betty came up to take a respective hand, squeezing in reassurance since they also recognized him from the video. Peter caught the man’s flinch when he saw the blue glasses perched on the teen’s nose.

EDITH was providing file upon file for everyone there. Her interfacing with Karen the previous night also saw her connecting with FRIDAY, so a lot of learning happened very quickly. Nothing was hidden from the young AI’s sight, especially threats to Peter and Ned.

Seeing the ‘ENCRYPTED’ over Dimitri’s file scramble before filling with information explained Peter’s danger sense buzzing around the man. There were aliases upon aliases, and it took everything he had to climb on that bus. He guided his closest friends to the very back. For the time being, this man was working with SHIELD, and harming Peter or his friends wouldn’t help them at all.

“EDITH,” Peter mumbled, “activate Dog Whistle, please.”

“Activated.” Her voice was so quiet only he could hear.

“Thanks, doll.” It was something he and Ned had worked with Tony to design and that Karen and FRIDAY were equipped with. Peter had done a bit of guided tinkering early this morning when he couldn’t sleep. EDITH now had an upgraded microphone that could pick up the barest whisper, and she was also able to communicate in a sub-human frequency. “EDITH, let’s do a quick sesh of that Training Wheels protocol.”

“Activating first lesson of the Training Wheels protocol. EDITH stands for ‘Even Dead, I’m the Hero.’ Tony did love his acronyms.”

Peter wasn’t surprised that Tony would view even death as a mistake and look to rectify it. He smiled sadly and murmured, “He sure did.”

“When you finish all lessons, you will have access to all of Tony’s protocols. I have access to the entire Stark Global Security Network, including multiple defense satellites as well as backdoors to all major telecommunication networks.”

He blinked in surprise, giving a bewildered look to Ned across the aisle. “That…seems horribly invasive, but okay. It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you, I guess.”

“Correct. There have been only eight people in Tony’s life that he was sure of: Maria Stark, Edwin and Anna Jarvis, Colonel Rhodes, Pepper, Happy, Ned, and you. He was adamant that Morgan was too young to count while Harley was too much of a walking disaster.”

Peter almost spit with the laugh that escaped him. MJ glanced over and saw the faint light of the glasses, let her lips twitch in a smile, and then went back to her book. He rubbed circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. “What about Parker Luck?” He loved hearing these stories that no one else was ready to tell yet. He’d share with Ned.

“As a security and defense AI, Tony tasked me with convincing you to visit the Sorcerer Supreme to check for a curse.”

He had to cover his mouth to muffle his giggles. It was hard to look serious when apologizing to MJ for jostling her book and making her lose her place. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry- I didn’t- I didn’t mean to-”

“Uh-huh. You sure sound sorry, Peter… What’s so funny?”

Deciding the bus was loud enough to cover, he waved at Ned and Betty to lean over and told them. A light tingle started in at the base of his head. Carefully using his peripheral vision, Peter found them being watched by Flash, Brad, and Dimitri. It was the last one that concerned him the most.

He went back to the Training Wheels protocol and paid attention to everything EDITH showed him about her satellites and her drones. Tony always learned from his mistakes. If something like Thanos came along again, EDITH would be their largest support.

The rest stop was very welcome since they ran out of snacks and didn’t have a lunch planned- thanks, SHIELD, for starving a bunch of high schoolers over a phony. As Peter was leaving the bus, Dimitri stopped him and pointed him toward a blonde woman. EDITH informed him she was a SHIELD agent, which only aggravated him further with how hangry he was getting.

“Good news, Parker,” she told him in a heavily accented voice, “All current Avengers, Avenger consultants, and SHIELD operatives have been granted clearance to operate in the defeat and either detainment or termination of the Elementals by the UN.”

Peter was surprised that they actually managed it. “And if one pops up inside a country that isn’t part of the UN?”

“If this last one gets away, we will request on a by-country basis at the time of resurgence.”

He didn’t get why Fury didn’t just send him a text message. “Is that all you needed? If I wasn’t sure my fibre intake is great, then this table would look tasty.” He also didn’t like being in a room with an unknown while his friends and classmates were around a dangerous unknown.

“You said Spider-Man cannot be seen. Director Fury has requested that I make a suit for you.”

Peter wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I have color-changing nanotech, which Fury witnessed last night,” he told her and empathized with her frustration. “I’m sorry he wasted your time. That was rude of him, and he should respect how valuable it is. Have a good day, ma’am.” He turned around and left, nearly running Brad over and not caring why the non-Blipped teen was snooping around.

He had just enough time to get back to the bus. The next few hours would’ve been absolutely miserable had MJ not presented him with an entire bag of sandwiches. Who was watching didn’t matter as he pulled her into a slow, warm kiss. It was nothing like the little pecks, and he was all for her fingers curling into the hair at the base of his skull.

“…Wow,” MJ mumbled, blinking a bit dazedly, “Noted: bring you food more often.”

Peter was a little dizzy himself. He touched his forehead to hers with a bashful-but-dopey smile. “I like your kisses. Food isn’t required, but it is a bonus.” He was a bit frustrated with losing their seats at the back of the bus, getting shuffled all the way to the front. As the strongest one, Ned made sure Peter could sit diagonally behind Dimitri. Ned and Betty sat behind them, Ned taking the aisle seat and neither MJ nor Betty complaining when they were sat defensibly at the windows.

Flash was across the aisle from him now, though.

Parker Luck struck again.

The jeering voice was expected, “Cool glasses, Parker. Can I see ‘em?” and a tingle of his danger sense saw him ducking the hand that tried to take them. Peter’s first instinct was to grab that hand. His second, born of training with Shang-Chi, was to break that hand and neutralize the uninvited movement. Flash was lucky that all he did was avoid it.

MJ wasn’t so merciful and slapped that hand with her book. “Weren’t you ever told that you see with your eyes, not with your hands?”

“He didn’t say ‘please,’ either,” Ned tacked on. His inner rabid demon was showing.

Peter scoffed. “And didn’t wait for me to answer. Rude.”

“The better question,” Betty added the last nail in the growing-quiet bus, “is why does Flash feel entitled to take things from Peter?”

The bully had paled at first. Peter and Ned had swiftly taken down him and two of his buddies at the beginning of the previous school year. His face started growing red with embarrassment at the new type of attention.

“Dude,” Cindy spoke up, “you need to apologize.”

Flash did so in a humiliated mumble, and Peter wasn’t cold enough to make him speak up.

“Accepted,” the kind teen acknowledged. Flash looked relieved until he finished in a displeased-Pepper tone, “If you try to do it again, I won’t be so forgiving.” Peter then spent a couple of hours on another Training Wheels session and testing.

His heart broke a little for Flash when he caught a glimpse of a text with Mrs. Thompson. After that time when he had been bereft of an adult because May had to work so hard and then ignored by Tony and Happy, he could imagine how Flash felt. Peter had stared too long at his hands, apparently, since Ned suddenly poked his shoulder.

Ned leaned to put his ear between the seats, facing the window to hide his mouth, and whispered, “Why do you feel bad for him?”

Peter hid his face to put his mouth close to Ned’s ear. His brother wouldn’t be able to hear him as easily, but it was definitely something he didn’t want gossiped about. “You ever see Flash’s parents around the school? It’s always his driver that takes care of him.” Ned’s ear vanished for one raised eyebrow to be shown to him, then the ear was back in a clear indication for Peter to continue. “I just- If nothing good he does gets attention, then…”

“But doing stupid or bad things isn’t going to make it better.”

“I…kinda get it,” Peter reminded him, “Being ignored by people you want to be proud of you… It hurts. …And he doesn’t have a rabid-demon best-friend-brother.”

“You think that’s why he believes so much in Spider-Man?”

The enhanced teen let his head rest on MJ’s shoulder for a moment. “Maybe he needs saving…but from himself.”

MJ used her free hand to comb through his hair at the base of his head and called him out, “You’re already thinking about how to help, aren’t you?”

“Mmhmm.”

“It won’t be easy like defeating robbers,” she bluntly informed. Wanting to help people was as much a part of Peter as his eye color, and it didn’t matter if they had hurt him. “I’ll help, but I won’t go easy on him if he’s mean to you.”

“Same,” Ned agreed.

“I know. I won’t be nice if he hurts you guys.”

Ned sat back and brought Betty up to speed, not wanting to leave her out just like Peter wouldn’t want to leave MJ out.

Chapter Text

Peter, Ned, MJ, and Betty hadn’t understood just how popular the Carnival of Lights was until they saw the amount of people in Prague when pulling up to the hotel. Evacuation would never be possible. Something else occurred to Peter and Ned almost at the exact same time, and once they informed MJ and Betty, all four teens were properly horrified and angry.

“Beck wants an audience,” Peter breathed as he gazed at Ned.

“This is revenge against Tony,” Ned realized a moment later, “for-for firing him- for supposedly disgracing his work.”

“Yes, but also for stealing it,” Peter added, his fingers tapping out a rapid beat on his leg. “Tony filed the patent without Beck’s name…but anything created at Stark Industries belonged to Tony. All corporations are like that!”

“That just means Beck is a few sandwiches short of a picnic,” MJ summarized. “We already knew that. Didn’t you say Tony fired him because he was unstable?” Peter and Ned both nodded. “Well, he’s certainly proving Tony right. At the end of the day, this is a revenge game…with people’s lives in the balance.”

Betty chimed in, then, “Revealing their motive is important, though.”

MJ went more still than usual, a thought occurring to her that harkened back to the days of when her opinion of Tony Stark was shaped by media scandals and lies. “Do you think…Beck wanted to weaponize this? It’s all he’s done so far.”

Ned assured, “Tony would’ve definitely fired him for that.”

“Not to mention,” Peter tacked on, “Tony went on to turn it into medical tech for mental health. He wanted to help and protect people.” His smile to MJ was tiny but proud. She had balked a little at first when her worldview had been challenged. In the end, however, she had listened to Peter and Ned when it came to the real Tony Stark.

These new thoughts were making Peter chafe even more at having to play a part, but their brainstorming was interrupted by his phone ringing. He saw First Mate on the caller ID. Karen had grown a glorious sense of humor just like her creator. “Go,” he said instead of greeting with anything friendly or nervous, getting into the mindset for a mission.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and they regretted not putting an end to Beck. No one had died yet. Peter and Ned’s experience told them that was a miracle.

Hill’s voice came over the phone, “Meet us in Dining Room B in ten minutes.”

“Understood.” He hung up and shuffled his friends to their rooms. It was weirdly considerate of SHIELD to book a parent-child connected room for the four teens down the hall from everyone else. Peter and Ned didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth. “Five minutes, Ned. Suit up. Karen, would you please loop the camera feeds on our route to SHIELD?”

When she answered, it was with the Dog Whistle mode active. “Of course, Peter. Loop will be active for four minutes. I’ve also taken the liberty of scanning for drone signals. There is one in the hallway outside your rooms and two more on the bottom floor within the location of Dining Room B.”

Peter growled at the clear threat, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles popped. He whispered, “Thanks, love. Can you scramble the one outside here?” His brother’s head jerked to face him at hearing the question.

“Are you sure you want to tip them off?”

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, not wanting to forfeit the current game when they were so far in but needing the safety of his friends assured. “You’re right, K,” he admitted without hesitation. “No way they don’t already know who we are. Don’t bother that one. I have an idea.”

“Understood. It will not take extra processing power to maintain sensors with you all so close together. May I suggest leaving a phone so that I can broadcast to the ladies?”

“You’re brilliant, sweetheart.” Peter was already planning to rectify that mistake when they returned from the trip. Tony Stark absolutely lived on in him.

“I aim to please, Peter.”

The enhanced teen smiled in amusement as his nanosuit crawled across him. Ned’s was also quick to appear. His was a bit bulkier in areas and took more nanobots, but it certainly suited him- pun intended.

“…You know,” Ned said to catch his attention. “Guy in the Chair is a mouthful for a codename. What about just…Cyber?”

The eyes of Spider-Man’s mask squinted at him for a moment before he initiated their handshake. “It fits,” he agreed and complimented, “I like it.” Having a separate name for Ned was something that should’ve occurred to them a long time ago. “Not sure how someone didn’t hear me say your name and figure it out yet…”

“For a genius…” MJ teased him. “Plus, you’re almost late.”

“Shit,” the masked teens hissed and left the room.

Spider-Man exited first, taking a couple of quick steps before slowing and looking around. He knew where the drone was, but his danger sense wasn’t a secret, and it was definitely buzzing from being watched. He could hear the drone, too. Nothing with moving parts was hidden from him unless other sounds or ridiculous soundproofing hid it. After a moment, he focused on it and narrowed his eyes, the mask following. He tilted his head, making it look like he was wondering what he was sensing, then Ned tapped his back as a signal to keep moving.

They were soon in the meeting room. “Well, isn’t this just cozy? Love that fireplace,” Spider-Man quipped reflexively from how anxious he was, “Anyone got marshmallows?”

Cyber snapped his fingers and muttered, “Knew I forgot something. Sorry, bro.”

“Is this a joke to you?” Fury snapped as he stepped toward them. “Do you think we’re playing a game?”

Beck scoffed and said, “They’re probably upset about you highjacking their class trip.”

“People…are…in…danger,” Fury retorted with deliberate slowness, “We needed them. And what do you know? Here they are.”

Spider-Man and Cyber were not impressed. “‘What do you know?’” the agitated vigilante quoted then added, “Kidnapping a dozen minors is just a hurdle.”

“We tried to get you here without involving them, but you didn’t listen-”

“No, dipshit,” Cyber actually snarled, “You didn’t listen. Spidey listed off a handful of people that you could’ve called. One of them took on Thanos when he had Infinity Stones. This is child’s play for Doctor Strange.” He decided to throw a potshot at everyone in the room. “Tony Stark would’ve never made such a mistake.” Neither he nor Spider-Man missed the way Beck’s expression gnarled into rage and hatred for a moment.

Fury, on the other hand, took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. “Maybe you’re right, kid, but we’re running out of time. We made a plan, and now we gotta stick to it to protect these people.”

Spider-Man didn’t hesitate to agree on that. “You’re not wrong about protecting people. That’s worth dying for.” He walked further into the room, Cyber never more than a pace behind him. “What plan, then?”

“The fire Elemental is all that’s left. We need you to keep watch for it to appear,” Fury told him and gestured to a holographic map. “The bell tower is the best vantage point in the city. Once it’s here, we’ll send in Beck-”

“Mysterio,” the phony corrected, giving a smile when everyone looked at him. “The people named me just like they did Iron Man. Gotta give ‘em what they want, right?”

Spider-Man wanted to punch that smug, little grin off his face. Only Cyber’s hand on his shoulder calmed him, though he knew his brother was just as angry. Somehow, he kept his response polite, “Needs and wants, Mr. Beck.”

“Exactly,” Fury agreed with an almost-smile, which was strange in and of itself. “They need someone to protect them, not another Captain America being paraded around like a circus act.” He then moved back to the plan like he hadn’t been interrupted. “After Spider-Man gives the signal, he and his buddy will focus on civilian evac. ‘Mysterio’ will distract the creature. Once the people are safe, they will return to support Mysterio.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” Spider-Man and Cyber acknowledged at the same time. They noted which agents picked up the lack of a second ‘aye’ by the snickers. Fury closed his eye for a moment in irritation.

“Okay, so what’s the plan for dealing with the pyromaniac?” the vigilante wondered, moving along to what they needed, “Any weaknesses other than the obvious? If this thing is fire incarnate, then I’m guessing water or rocks?”

“Yes, but keep it away from metal,” Beck confirmed, his face looking appropriately worried. “It works like lava. The more metal it gets, the hotter and bigger it gets, and it’s harder to bring back down. If it gets powerful enough to draw off the Earth’s core…”

Spider-Man and Cyber glanced at each other. There wasn’t enough water in the entire city to cool lava enough and prevent collateral damage. SHIELD had to know that.

“All right,” the enhanced teen smoothed over with a nod. “Those pulses are starting to look too much like contractions,” his mask hid his grin at their baffled looks, “I don’t think we have two hours.” It was only his super-hearing that let him catch the wheeze Cyber let out.

“We’ll be ready,” Fury assured.

Spider-Man huffed a laugh and said, “Avenger- note the singular, assemble.”

“Hey!” Cyber retorted as they made their way to the door, “What am I? Chopped nerd?”

“Avenger-and-a-Half, assemble. Sound better?” He smiled beneath his mask at the frustration Beck couldn’t hide. Only Yelena could maintain a poker face once Spider-Man and Cyber got on their bullshit.

“Yeah, but it won’t be one-point-five for long,” Cyber assured, keeping the act up until they were inside their room and away from the drones.

Peter sighed as the nanobots withdrew from his face. MJ and Betty had seen everything, so they were prepared with ideas to try to help keep everyone safe. There was an opera house nearby with a show that night. “If you guys won’t stay there, then we can’t count on everyone else to,” he told them, snickering at the immediate slumping of their shoulders.

“He’s right,” Ned agreed. “If we don’t all go, they won’t. If a few of us leave, they’ll follow.”

“…EDITH? Do I have enough access to assign drones to the class?”

“Only for defense, Peter. Offensive capabilities against Earth-born targets will not be available until after the last lesson in the Training Wheels protocol.”

“That’s all I need, love. Do any drones have cloaking capabilities?”

“Yes, Peter,” EDITH answered promptly. “Tony designed a small Ghost Squadron of twenty retro-reflective-panel-equipped drones. Should any be destroyed, I can fabricate more. Would you like to deploy one for each student and teacher apart from yourself and Ned?”

“One for Ned, too, please. He’s better protected than the rest, but…” Peter trailed off when Ned put a hand on his shoulder and gently bumped the sides of their heads together.

“All students and teachers bar yourself, confirmed. What is the time of deployment?”

“An hour and fifteen minutes. I don’t trust their readings.”

“Confirmed. …Is there anything else I can do for you, Peter?” The hesitation was strange at first, though he realized she was branching out like FRIDAY and Karen had.

The burn of tears came on quickly, and he sniffled. “No, sweetheart. You’re perfect. I wish Tony could see you grow.” Ned’s arm circled around him and held tightly at the pain in Peter’s voice.

EDITH’s next words were both uplifting and a punch to his heart, “We are his legacy.”

Peter took the tissues MJ handed him and regained his composure before patting Ned’s hand. “Let’s get ready. Karen, can we get a holographic map, please? We need safe locations to guide people to. MJ, Betty- Use your phone flashlights like flares to get their attention.” They nodded, seeing where Peter was going. “Having the rest of the class with them will let our drones provide cover in case any of Beck’s attack them directly.”

Ned added with a no-argument tone, “I’ll stay with Peter so that the drone on me can help, too.”

Peter sighed. “There are always those stragglers with no self-preservation…”

MJ huffed a laugh and retorted, “You think you can point fingers?”

“Nope. Just an observation.” He knew his self-sacrificial tendencies would be the death of him. It was one reason why he scuppered his plan of waiting until the trip to ask MJ out. “Oh! Hey, MJ… I, uh… Well, so much for the Eiffel Tower, but…” He took out the container that held the necklace, fidgeted with it for a minute, shifted on his feet, and then just thrusted it toward her. “Um- P-Present…I-I-I got…for you…”

She thought it was so cute how he went from a self-assured battlefield commander to an awkward, shy dork at the flip of a switch. MJ didn’t take the container, instead cupping his hand. She lifted it to press a kiss to his thumb, smiling at his sudden blush, then took the gift to open it. “Oh, it’s so pretty… A black dahlia like-”

“-Like the murder,” he whispered, squirming a little at the pleasantly surprised and awed look she was giving him. “I-I-I had this whole plan… I wanted to-to give it to you…on the Eiffel Tower…” He rubbed the back of his head and barely refrained from shifting foot-to-foot in nervousness. “But…just in case… You know, in case things go…wrong…”

MJ declared without hesitation, “Everything will be fine,” and curled the glass pendant against her chest. “We’ll go to the Eiffel Tower someday…because everything here will be fine.”

“Are you manifesting it?”

She rolled her eyes and pecked his lips. “Yes, dork.”

Betty loudly asked, “Are we that cute?” while looking at Ned.

Peter and MJ startled a little, the rest of the world having fallen away for that one, beautiful moment. “Yup,” they both answered.

It was hard for Spider-Man and Cyber to go to the bell tower. EDITH, now also in Spider-Man’s suit, assured him that all drones were in position and worked with Karen to helpfully indicate them on both of their HUDs in Tony’s gold where Beck’s were the same maroon shade of his cape. It was nice to watch their classmates enjoy themselves for a few minutes.

“Comm check,” Spider-Man requested.

“Fury and Hill, here,” Hill responded, “Are you both in position?”

“Yes, ma’am. No signs yet.” They had arrived a full half hour early after MJ and Betty helped them slip away from everyone. Only fifteen minutes later did they see more of Beck’s drones come in. They slowly began to take a formation, and the teens realized that their cloaking was part of the illusion. Spider-Man spotted steam starting to rise from the fountain. “Karen, activate thermal imaging, please. If this firebug is like lava, then it’s gonna give off something.”

“Good idea, kid,” Beck complimented over the comm. “Picking up anything?”

Cyber answered, “Saw some steam at the fountain, but there’s no heat signature to cause it.” Suddenly, some of the drones moved toward the water. The bursts of heat appeared looked like fire shot out of flamethrowers, but they still had to play it up. “Whoa! Heat spotted! Temperature climbing!”

Spider-Man tapped the side of his mask to switch channels. “MJ? Betty? Get ready,” he warned just before the ground started to crack from Beck’s drones blasting it. Had he not been paying such close attention, the speakers on the drones and image of lava bubbling up would’ve covered the noise. He switched channels before the illusory monster burst out of the fountain. Karen automatically turned down the thermal vision to keep from burning their eyes out with the sudden influx of heat.

It was actually drones reducing the fountain to rubble with machine guns and flamethrowers.

“A wild Angry Volcano has appeared!” Spider-Man alerted over the sounds of screams, not wasting a second to swing to the Ferris wheel and help riders off.

“‘…wild Angry Volcano…’” Cyber quoted with a snicker as he headed for the carousel. “You got a pokéball?”

Spider-Man didn’t waste a second to hiss, “Gottacatch’emall, gottacatch’emall.”

“Would you get serious?!” Fury bellowed over the comm.

“I have to if I’m gonna be the very best like no one ever was!”

“Spider-Man!” the SHIELD leader scolded. Beck’s hushed laughter trickling over the comm made the man nearly blow a gasket. “People are in danger! Mysterio! Get out there!”

If Beck hadn’t been a phony and a crook putting people’s lives at risk, Spider-Man and Cyber had the thought that they may have gotten along. They weren’t naïve enough to do more than ensure he didn’t die, though. Anyone who went this far in a revenge scheme deserved to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“Spider-Man, Cyber,” Beck called over the comm, “I can’t distract it for long.” They had to admit he was doing a spectacular imitation of an angry bee assaulting a hungry bear. Soon enough, the teens had most of the people out of the plaza. They weren’t surprised that the monster started to go for the nearby carousel. “Use that-” he started to advise, but Spider-Man was already ripping the fire hydrant beneath the Elemental out of the ground.

Beck’s drones swarmed around on their HUDs to hit the water with flamethrowers. It created a believable amount of steam. Cyber used the cover to flush out some straggling civilians who were trying to record the battle. EDITH monitored every video, picture, and livestream. MJ and Betty rallied their classmates to use their phones as flares and to help direct people to safe locations they had picked out.

Spider-Man was so proud of his little team. He couldn’t get lost in it, however, jumping in to fling debris from the fountain and road at the monster. The formation of the drones was interesting to watch through his overlays. It was no surprise when they turned the illusory creature on him, and it was difficult-but-doable to dodge the flamethrowers and bursts of air that would imitate the Elemental’s fists hitting him. He led it away from the carousel and Ferris wheel.

Multiple SHIELD vehicles piling in right where he needed to be got on his nerves.

“Who isn’t being serious now?” he snapped at them, using two webs to pull cars away with his momentum before rebounding off the wall. Webbing up a boulder, he twisted and slung it into the monster’s chest. Those flamethrowers weren’t hot enough to melt his nanotech, but he was starting to get a little toasty inside his suit. “Just because spiders are arthropods, too, doesn’t mean you can boil me like a lobster, which is inhumane anyway!”

Fury’s annoyed sigh was audible both over the comm and not. “That’s more information about the animal kingdom than I needed.”

“Thanks for tuning into Science Facts with Spidey-” he cut himself off when Beck flew in front of him, and he realized the man was an illusion, as well, due the cape cutting through him. It should’ve been obvious, but Spider-Man didn’t have time to dwell. A burst of air and heat timed with the Elemental stumbling toward him caught him in the torso.

Feeling his ribs break was nothing new. Plowing through a carousel was, and the Iron Spider suit was all that protected him from being stabbed and sliced to pieces by the shrapnel. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could play Beck’s game. If that had been Cyber who took that hit, his brother would be dead.

“K-Karen…? St-Status rep-port,” he choked out between coughs.

“Four broken ribs, three fractured ribs, one fractured scapula, and a bruised sternum. Shall I activate Instant Kill?” Karen was savage when it came to protecting him, just like her creator had been. She could no longer call Iron Man when facing an emergency, and the closest person able to help was Cyber, who was already there.

A couple of shocked gasps over the comm were priceless.

He would’ve laughed if he wasn’t in so much pain. “N-Not thissss t-time, love.” A thermal outline of a human approached the carousel on the ground, and he could see, just barely, through the debris when Beck’s illusion overlaid the figure before pieces were suddenly being moved.

“I’m coming, kid! Hang on!”

Spider-Man couldn’t put into words how badly he wanted to punch that stupid fishbowl. The real Quentin Beck was here, though. He could use that. He would make Beck regret trying to taint the memory of a man who was an amazing hero, husband, father, and mentor.

“I’ll get him!” Cyber shouted, “Focus on that Heatran wannabe!” The enhanced teen snickered reflexively at all the Pokémon references but ended up groaning when it jarred his ribs. “C’mon, Spidey, you know broken ribs are an instant ‘Try Not to Laugh’ challenge.”

“Sh-Shut up, man,” he grumbled despite his grin being clearly heard through the words, and the whine of repulsors charging was so familiar. “You-You snuck rep-pulsors…in your…suit? Nice.”

Beck obviously didn’t want them saving themselves since the monster focused on them again. Cyber had to turn and defend his brother. However, attacking the non-enhanced teen activated EDITH’s defensive measures. The Ghost drone above him swiftly neutralized three of Beck’s drones.

“What the hell?!” came over the comm from multiple voices, the best of which was Quentin Beck as the monster and the flying Mysterio started pixelating. Beck’s drones scrambled to hold the illusion.

More of Beck’s drones were destroyed when they turned on Cyber.

The entire thing started to break down, and Spider-Man didn’t waste any time digging himself out of the rubble. He’d had his body ripped apart by Thanos and the Infinity Stones. A few broken and fractured bones was nothing in comparison, and his wonderful, genius brother had played along without hesitation.

“Karen, be a doll…and scramble that signal.” It still hurt to breathe in so deeply.

“…My…pleasure, Spider-Man,” she said slowly with purely satisfied retribution.

The illusion fluttered and disappeared as the drones wavered then dropped to the ground like stones. Beck himself was revealed in a grey suit with that same fishbowl on his head. SHIELD immediately had him surrounded and shortly de-fishbowl’ed, disarmed, on the ground, and cuffed.

“EDITH,” Spider-Man continued, a shark’s grin hidden beneath his mask at the way Beck’s face paled. “Does it conflict with your protocol…to consider the operators of those drones as…attacking your defended subjects?”

“No conflict detected. Shall I incapacitate?”

“Please do, dear,” he confirmed, watching as the gold of the Ghost Squadron collected together. A video feed popped up in his and Cyber’s HUDs to show the drones wreaking havoc in a nearby warehouse.

“Spider-Man. Cyber. A device designed to emit electromagnetic pulses has been found. Would you like me to disable it?”

“Disable, not destroy.”

“Confirmed.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.” He and his brother made their way over to where SHIELD had Beck locked down. Spider-Man picked up a drone on the way with the hand that wasn’t attached to a busted shoulder blade. “Got some questions for you, Iron Man wannabe.” Forcing down all the aches to stand tall was easy. “You know Stark Industries has the patent for these drones, right? And the guns, air cannons, and flamethrowers? And this projector tech?”

Beck’s face twisted into pure hatred. “Stark ruined my life! Stark stole my work! Stark fired me after stealing my ideas! Stark renamed my life’s work BARF!”

“You signed a contract, whiny ass,” Spider-Man interrupted with the unimpressed-Pepper tone. “You,” he jabbed a finger at Beck, “obviously didn’t read it! Every idea you had after signing that until one year after your termination date belonged to Tony Stark.”

Beck’s face was starting to turn red from humiliation and rage. “Stark said I was unstable!”

Fury huffed a laugh and said, “And you don’t think a revenge plot of attacking four cities and putting many thousands of people at risk counts as unstable?”

“He’ll get a lot of time to think…on the Raft,” Cyber spat.

Beck wrenched backwards, like punishment hadn’t occurred to him, before he jerked forward again. Spit flew out of his mouth as he screamed, “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be the smartest guy in the room and have no one listen to you?!”

“Not a clue,” Spider-Man retorted with heavy sarcasm, “Tell me all about it.”

Fury and Hill looked guilty for two seconds.

“If you don’t have a cape and lasers, no one pays any attention to you! But with Iron Man gone, people needed someone to believe in! So, I was going to give them that! I was going to be the next Iron Man!”

“And that,” Fury cut in, “is why you are not the smartest man in the room.”

“‘The next Iron Man?’” Cyber spoke up bitterly, “You think you could be Iron Man? No one can replace him. There was only one Iron Man. There will only ever be one Iron Man.”

Spider-Man empathized with his brother’s pain. “In case you forgot, Iron Man and Tony Stark were one and the same. You couldn’t engineer your way out of a kids’ escape room.” He then webbed Beck’s mouth shut and turned his back on the phony. “Fury, I’ll send you the address of their operation. After that, we are gonna have a little chat. Friendly reminder: not even Kingpin could ghost me.”

He hadn’t forgotten that a last gift from his mentor had been withheld from him.

Cyber put a hand on his shoulder and guided them toward where the groups of civilians were.

Spider-Man was thankful that his brother wasn’t ready to talk yet. He still had some things to iron out. “Karen. EDITH. Please send all recordings…regarding the Elementals to…Pepper and FRIDAY. Legal at SI is…gonna have some fun.”

“Sending now.”

“Thanks, ladies. You’re amazing,” he appreciated with a soft smile.

They were shortly outside the first safe location. Cyber stopped him from going inside and gently asked, “Are you okay, dude?” He hadn’t missed the pauses for breath between words.

The enhanced teen couldn’t lie to him. “Honestly? I feel like…like I’ve been hit by a train- But I…I can hold it together. These people need us.”

Cyber hated to bring the next thing up, but he knew it wouldn’t stop either of them. “…You know keeping our identities secret from the class after this… It’s going to be impossible.”

“Yeah, I know…” Spider-Man couldn’t help sounding so tired. “If they ask us, we won’t lie.”

The coding genius nodded, having expected his brother to take that route.

The trip was going to be cut short because of the parents fearing for their children’s lives, but Pepper stepped in to assure them that the threat was over thanks to the Avengers. Peter and Ned couldn’t quantify their gratefulness for her. She told them that it was all thanks to them and that they should be allowed to enjoy their vacation.

Not a single student or teacher in the class missed how Peter and Ned had vanished and that MJ and Betty had taken charge of the evacuation efforts in Prague. They also didn’t miss how beaten Peter was or that he was mostly fine again in a day. Midtown Tech was a school for smart kids, after all. Peter knew a long time ago that being invisible to most and a laughing stock to the rest was what kept his identity a secret.

Now, they were paying attention to him.

It was weird.

Ned watched it all go on and saw how uncomfortable his brother was. He ran interference anytime there was a chance of Peter being cornered, which ensured Ned, himself, wouldn’t be isolated. Their current interaction toward the class reminded the students of the beginning of the year. MJ was her usual caustically truthful self. No one except Peter braved her cutting wit, but that was because he was head over heels for her. She also couldn’t deny going quite a bit gooey when the dork was around.

Betty took her cues from MJ. She didn’t know Peter well enough yet to follow his lead, but she watched how Ned and MJ made sure he was never by himself. She stepped up to do the same for Ned when Peter was occupied. Just like MJ, she could hold her own and knew much more about these people than they did her. She was an investigative journalist, after all. Peter and Ned were the only ones who had surprised her.

Within two days, the class started to take the hint. The teachers caught on first since it was their job to watch over all the students. They saw how the four friends would form up around the others. Setting an example was their job, and if they pressured Peter or Ned, then it showed to the students that it was okay. That was unacceptable.

All four friends were shocked speechless when it was Flash who got in Brad’s way of trying to sweet-talk MJ. Peter had split off to go to the restroom. Ned and Betty were inspecting an exhibit that MJ had wandered away from, and Brad wasted no time.

Flash was at the next one and hesitated only slightly before clearing his throat. “…You, um…seem like you know a lot about, uh…this one. Could you tell me about it, please?”

MJ glanced over at him and caught Brad’s annoyed reflection off the glass. She noticed how nervous and pale Flash was, but his eyes were also on the non-Blipped teen’s image. Her lips quirked upward once, and she asked, “You’re interested in architecture?”

Flash let out a soft, shuddery sigh. “I wonder how the architects choose the geometry that they use.”

Brad huffed and stalked off to another exhibit.

No one but Ned noticed that Peter was already on his way back, but no one else knew he was only checking in with May. He shot his brother a smile to put him at ease. Peter would’ve heard the whole conversation between MJ and Flash, anyway. When it came to eavesdropping, the enhanced teen couldn’t help it.

Peter slid his hand into MJ’s as he came up on her other side. Flash faltered mid-sentence and fidgeted, but Peter smiled at him and quietly said, “Thanks for looking out for my friends.” Flash blinked in surprise. “So…” Peter pointed at the exhibit and looked back at the other teen, “why do you think the architect chose that shape for the roof?”

MJ almost laughed at the flummoxed look Flash wore before he managed to answer.

Later that day during dinner, Ned waited until everyone was seated before he moved from beside Peter to sit across from him. He made eye-contact with Flash and nodded toward the chair. The way the other teen paled made him raise a single eyebrow, clearly communicating the deadpan, ‘Really?’

Flash sighed with a resigned slump of his shoulders. Picking his plate up, he quickly moved to take the vacated chair.

“Hey,” Peter greeted calmly, having sat so that no one could see them talk. It didn’t stop everyone from suddenly paying attention. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t expected that.

“Uh…hi,” Flash mumbled lamely. He picked at his food for a few seconds then flicked his eyes between his plate and Peter’s face. “Um… Are you…Are you really…?” The enhanced teen gave him a curious look but didn’t push him, making him use his words. “Ya know…Spider-Man… Are you?”

Peter knew it was coming, and it was interesting that Flash was the first person to ask. Spider-Man’s biggest fan of his classmates and Peter Parker’s worst bully of his classmates were one and the same, but it was that fan-and-bully who worked up the courage. He had already decided to be truthful if asked. He didn’t like being made to squirm, so he wouldn’t do it to Flash even if he thought Flash deserved it.

“I am,” he answered and waited to see what Flash would do with that information.

It took a few minutes, in which Peter finished his fourth plate- and silently thanked Mr. Harrington for suggesting a buffet. Flash finally took a deep breath. “Why?” he wondered, sounding quite lost and baffled.

“Why am I Spider-Man?”

“No- Well, I mean, yes- But not-” Flash squeezed his lips and eyes shut for a second then more-calmly elaborated, “Why do you let me treat you like that, Parker? I call you names and push you around… Dude,” he barely kept his voice down, “you could put me through a wall!”

“I could,” Peter agreed without hesitation and ignored how Flash flinched away, “but what good would that do?”

“Uh…what?”

“Okay, so- I can make you leave me alone. I can hurt you much worse than you’ve ever hurt me. Spider-Man’s quips and jokes? That’s all me, Flash.” Peter felt so much older as he gazed at the other teen. All his fights, his mistakes, and his victories shone in his eyes and face, and it left Flash speechless. “It doesn’t mean I should. Spider-Man looks out for the little guy. That means Peter Parker looks out for the little guy. …That includes you.”

“…Shit,” Flash whispered, barely daring to breathe as he finally saw the face beneath the mask of his hero. “Peter, I’m…I’m sorry.”

A tiny smile pulled up the corners of Peter’s lips. “Is that because I’m Spider-Man?”

“Uh, well- Yes- But…But also no.” Flash now knew Peter would give him the space to work it out. No one had ever done that for him before. “I’ve just…been thinking…since the thing with your glasses… Everyone was right. You were right.” He dropped his head and pushed his food around his plate a bit. “I’ve been awful to you just because I could. You didn’t do anything to deserve it, except…”

MJ got up to make another plate for Peter, and no one dared to bother her now. Flash squirmed a bit under his full attention.

Finally, he shamefully admitted, “You have everything I want.” He felt even worse for the instant understanding that he could see on Peter’s face. He hung his head in guilt. “Your aunt adores you, but my parents won’t even give me the time of day. I have money and stuff, yeah, but you have love. I don’t even have real friends, but Leeds would fight the Hulk for you.”

“He’s not wrong,” Ned piped in as MJ returned with a heaping plate.

Peter grinned at her but kept his gratitude to a kiss on the cheek after brushing her hair aside. She blushed lightly, bumped shoulders with him, and gave him a tiny smile. He then returned his focus to Flash and saw the heartache, loneliness, and longing that no child deserved.

It took him a moment to find the words. “You wanted to know why I’m Spider-Man, right?” He didn’t mind waiting for Flash to answer despite his food getting cold, and he’d never felt more like Tony than in that moment. Soon, however, Flash nodded. “My parents are dead. Their work at ESU put a bullseye on them,” he paused when the other teen’s head jerked up to face him. “They hid me at my aunt and uncle’s house. Only one of their coworkers knew about me. They risked their lives to protect their work and me.”

“Wha-What…?” Flash breathed, feeling even more like the worst human being for all the times he’d used ‘orphan’ as an insult against Peter.

“Yeah…” Peter whispered then smiled slightly and teased him, “Don’t livestream that.”

“Wha- No- Nonono,” Flash quickly assured, and Peter relaxed when that heartbeat didn’t indicate a lie. “This is between you and me! A-And Ned, Betty, and MJ, I guess…”

“And the whole class,” Ned added with a glare at everyone that could’ve melted Thanos.

“So yeah,” Peter continued without stumbling, “My parents died to protect me. My uncle… He was a police officer…” He felt the burn of tears but didn’t hide them. Ben deserved his tears. “There was a gang shootout near my favorite bodega, and… Ben was on duty, but I met him for lunch during his break… At the first gunshots, he was out the door, and…trying to guide civilians away…” His hands shook until Ned and MJ took one each. “…I was enhanced by then…but I… I wasn’t Spider-Man yet. I couldn’t save Ben. He died protecting people.”

Flash felt like he’d taken another punch to the gut.

“May helps people every day,” Peter rounded off. “She’s a nurse in the ER. I want to protect people. I want to help them…whether it’s carrying groceries or…or pulling people out of a house fire or…or-or stopping a robber or bike thief…” He gave a watery smile to his friends before directing it at Flash. “I’m Spider-Man because it’s the right thing to do. When you have the power to help, you have a responsibility to do it. If I sit on my hands and someone dies? That’s on me.”

Flash’s question was out before he could censor it, “…What if they die anyway?”

Peter and Ned both sobbed only once. “…Tony died anyway.”

“Oh…” Flash looked away and then he jerked ramrod straight. “Oh.” His face tinged an alarming shade of green like he was about to sick. “Sp-Spider-Man and…Iron Man…at the Battle of Earth… And what I said…”

Peter, even with his heart in pieces, couldn’t bring himself take his pain out on someone else. He said softly, “You didn’t know any better.”

“B-But-But you were Tony Stark’s interns! And I…I called you liars…!” Flash was nearly hysterical as all those things he’d said and done came back to haunt him. “I had no proof! I was just being a dick! Something else you got that I wanted but could never have!”

Peter didn’t refute any of that since it was all true. Instead, a humorless smile quirked his lips. “What’s funny is that you gave me my best cover. Letting you bully me was a two-fold win. One: no one else thought twice about my disappearances, my absences… They called me a flake and left it at that.” He gave Flash a look, then, that made the other teen lean away and start to tremble. “Two: you didn’t bully anyone else.”

“But… What?!”

“So, thanks for that.” With Flash.exe officially glitching, Peter looked over his shoulder at the silent students and teachers, having known they were listening regardless of his efforts- maybe in spite of them with a pinch of Parker Luck. “Looks like the buffet was for food and knowledge. Satisfied?”

Most of the students were shell-shocked, but one of them snickered.

“Aww, look,” MJ somehow cooed in a deadpan voice, “Your snark didn’t break all of them.”

Peter huffed. “No, that would’ve been my tragic hero backstory. We all have one.” He then tucked into his fifth plate that was now cold.

Ned immediately picked up from there, giving everyone that glare they never wanted to see again. “If any of you breathe a word of this, I will know. I’m Cyber. I earned that name.” Even Peter hadn’t known that he had coded a hacking program that listened for his brother’s name and alter ego to be mentioned together and then used it on everyone in Midtown Tech. It worked on their phones, watches, tablets, computers, and even smart TVs. He was taking absolutely zero chances. His own name and new alter ego had been added to the program right after the ‘fire Elemental’ fight.

Mr. Harrington stepped closer and reached out to gently squeeze Peter’s shoulder. “Did you heal up okay?” He was a nervous wreck on a good day, but teaching at a school of nerds and genii would be hard if he was stupid.

Peter nodded and asked, “How long have you known?” The choice of a buffet suddenly made a lot more sense. However, they didn’t know how fast he healed.

“About a quarter into the last school year,” the teacher answered honestly. “Ever wonder why your absences in my class and at AcaDec didn’t pile up?” Peter blinked then gave him a wonderful smile. “Spidey and Peter love Queens, right? Well, Queens loves Spidey, too. And we need to start showing that we love Peter Parker.”

Mr. Dell stood up a little straighter and agreed, “He’s right. We can’t swing around buildings or crawl on walls, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help in our own ways.”

Peter let his eyes rove over all the people there. His next words were quiet but so earnest and heartfelt, “Thank you.”