Chapter Text
It was 2030.
7 years since the fight at the statue of liberty.
When Peter thinks back to the fight and all he had lost, he wishes he could have done it differently. He had lost his last parental figure and his friends had lost their memory of him. He had become a ghost. He had to built his life back up. Had to get a job, an apartment, materials for his Spider-Manning and he had to get into social situations.
He knew damn well that isolating yourself was bad for you. It could drive you mad. He was Spider-Man, he couldn’t let that happen. He had to use his power responsible.
You might not have thought it, but the genius Peter Parker became a high school teacher. After the fight at the statue of liberty, Peter needed documents, a identity. Luckily for him he still somewhat existed. (Public records). He still existed online, he had his accomplishments from his time working with Stark Industries and he had record of his early gotten PhD in biochemistry and his Master in engineering.
Only his friends, aunt, Mr. Stark and Miss Potts knew he had them. Mr. Stark had told him about his time in the lime light and didn’t want that for him. After what happened with his identity reveal, Peter is happy they kept it under wraps. Having hundreds of lights flash in your face is not the most comfortable way to step out of your apartment.
Peter thinks he has a pretty good life right now. He has a routine: Wake up, get rid of any stiches, make sure you’re presentable, eat, get to work, prepare the classes he needs to give that day, give classes, be the most awesome teacher the school has ever known, finish every class that day, do stuff to finish his work day, be Spider-Man, eat, be Spider-Man again and keep doing it until he almost falls asleep mid swing and then go to bed.
(On the weekends he’s only Spider-Man, nothing else.)
So Peter thinks that he is doing alright. He’s had 7 years to get his life right and he has it. There is just this nagging feeling in his neck that the universe is doomed or something. But the chances of that happening are small, he thinks. The universe is likely not doomed… probably, hopefully.
Anyway abandoning that thought.
Life has gone pretty good. He has amazing students, colleagues and you might not have guessed it, but the school he’s working at is the one and only Midtown School of Science and Technology.
“Mr. P, do we need to finish the assignment before Friday?” It was a normal day for Peter. He was giving biochemistry to a bunch of sophomores.
“Have you not been listening when I was handing the assignment out, Luke? You should know this, I’ve said it at least three times.”
“Sorry… but is it?”
“Yeah, it is. Now be happy I’m not like Miss Willow and asking you to write an essay on top of it.”
“Sorry, Mr. P. You’re awesome. Bye!” Luke the student left the classroom.
Shaking his head Peter sat back in his chair. He needed to prepare the next class. Sometimes it was weird remembering how he had been the exact same ten years ago. Never focusing and somehow still being able to pass with straight A’s. Guess its just how high school works.
He was the youngest teacher in the school, that gave him the privilege of being the ‘coolest teacher’. Everybody loved him apparently. It was a gift, he told everyone. He is just able to place himself in the students he teaches. He connects with them. It was like he was made for teaching or he is just way too young to be a teacher, that’s possible too.
With him having been a teacher for six years at the school, he has not only gotten the respect of teachers, parents and students, but he also gotten a reputation. He is considered the fun, easy to talk to, joke with, or ask for help. He is able to keep his classes in control, but at the same time keep them happy and occupied. But the students/teachers also know not to ask about his personal life. He has even found out about the list that students made to show the new students and the teachers, what to never talk about or bring up around him.
• Thanos/the snap
• Tony Stark (or even the Starks at all)
• His aunt
• Mysterio
• Zombies
• Venice, London and Prague.
• And Thanos for a second time, Mr. P. really doesn’t like Thanos. (Prob lost someone in the snap or som).
They indeed made a list and weren’t really good at hiding it. Though he isn’t complaining, it’s really nice that his students care enough about him to make such a list. He just wishes it wasn’t necessary.
His patrol was almost done when he heard it, or rather, he sensed it first, but it didn’t take long for him to be able to hear it. It was a drone. There was a drone following him from a distance. Peter started to swing away, see what the drone would do. It followed him at an impressive speed. Not a normal drone then.
The drone could be from the DoDC… or from some kind of supervillain that wanted to find out his identity to kidnap him, dissect him, figure out how he got his powers, copy his powers and rain terror on New York.
No, thank you.
He started swinging towards a building where he knew that with the right moves and predictability of a drone (advanced or not), he should be able to trap it. And he did. It wasn’t really hard or anything. Just… up, sideways, do a very cool spin in the air, some webs and voila. One beautifully wrapped up drone ready to be dissected. Maybe he could get some tech to upgrade his web shooters with or maybe he could update M.E.S.S.Y. with it.
Wait haven’t told you about her yet. In those early months were he didn’t have anyone to talk with and everything was going wrong, he made an AI. He knew how to make one. He had upgraded Karen with Mr. Stark before. It was weird doing it without him. And after not having used an AI since Thanos, it was something to get used to again. He had been thinking what to name her for a long time, but eventually landed on M.E.S.S.Y.. Short for: ‘My Everyday Spider Symbol Youth’.
His life had been very messy with everything going on and people might not know it, but he loved acronyms just as much as Mr. Stark.
The drone, right. So he decided against bringing it back to his apartment after shutting it down, might have a tracker or something else. He dissolved his webbing and started to study it, when a word, or rather two words cached his attention. ‘Stark Industries’. Why was Stark Industries sending drones after him. Mysterio? If it’s because of him then they would have send them earlier, right? Someone could have gotten a hold of the drone maybe?
“M.E.S.S.Y., can you scan the drone and trace the signal back?”
“On it, Boss.”
Right, that was also a new thing. M.E.S.S.Y., decided to start calling him boss. He was no one’s boss, but she still did it. It was a new development after he had hacked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get some files he needed for a case. Yes, he said case. He meant when he was investigating some type of villain or mafia boss or something of the sorts in New York.
“It’s seems like the signal is coming from the new Avenger Compound.” M.E.S.S.Y. said with a slight confusion layered in her voice.
His mind went was racing. “Why would the Avengers want to know my identity after all this time?” Peter mumbled to himself.
He could try to hack the avengers, see if there are any files on him, maybe they wanted to arrest him or recruit him. That was a weird contradiction. Hacking the avengers was quite dangerous, seeing as they had really good security and all, but he has also hacked F.R.I.D.A.Y., a really long time ago and the software hasn’t been improved since Mr. Stark died, so far he knew. Plus his PhD and masters might be in biochemistry and engineering, but he was still a good coder. He just didn’t go back to school after the whole identity erasure.
So hacking the avengers it is. After contemplating it, he left the drone. If they were going to send a second drone, they would be more careful. He knew that the avengers, especially the old ones, learned from they’re mistakes.
He swung back to his apartment and entered through the window. It was getting really late and he needed to get at least four hours of sleep, five if he wanted to be well rested. That was a good aspect of his biology. He didn’t need as much sleep as a normal person. It was really fortunate, because he is out being spider-man deep into the night.
Dropping onto his bed, he almost forgot to take off his spider-suit. Being as tired as he was right now, it wasn’t that easy. Luckily for him, he has around ten years of experience in taking his suit off while half asleep.
Sleep took him easily. One of the last thoughts as Peter’s face relaxed was, Please for the love of god, don’t give me nightmares, as his nights are almost always plagued by them.
He had a pretty good night. His wish to not have any nightmares was fulfilled and he only had wishful dreams of his loved ones. His day had also gone pretty good. He started it of with his normal routine: ‘Wake up, get rid of any stiches, make sure you’re presentable, eat, get to work, prepare the classes he needs to give that day, give classes…’ Well he was still on the ‘give classes’.
He was giving his classes, he really was. But school hours were the only hours were he could sit behind a desk and do stuff behind the computer. Specifically hacking into the servers of the avengers.
He was supposed to teach the class something new today, but giving his current situation… He needed to be focused on all the typing he was doing. (read: hacking).
He had given the class a work sheet and had said to them, to figure it out on they’re own. Of course not in those words, but you know what he meant. Hacking the avengers was no easy task, even with M.E.S.S.Y.. Which okay, no big deal, he had hacked F.R.I.D.A.Y.. He would get through.
He did. He did get through. It was hard in the beginning, but when he finally got the hang of getting through their firewalls, it was as easy as the pentagon. Yes, he hacked the pentagon, don’t ask why… Or even when.
Peter did a little cheer inside and on his face flashed a brief smile and then he got back to work. ‘Cause he still didn’t know why the drone was sent after him. Finding his file wasn’t really that hard and he immediately went through it. There didn't seem to be much data on him, only that he was involved in the civil war debacle, fighting Thanos on Titan, Thanos fight 2.0, that he fought mysterio, but didn’t know what exactly happened, except that he didn’t kill him.
Than there was stuff about how he was spotted at the statue of liberty, part of drug busts, stopping traffic rings and other things that landed on the news. It was also mentioned that he worked with Mr. Stark and that he, in Mr. Starks words, was at the same level as him when talking about genius. Under that was a small note that said: ‘Might want to reach out for the brains, seems like a good guy.’
Well wasn’t that a surprise. A quiet “Huh…” Left his mouth.
Didn’t expect to be sought out, because of my brain. The chance that the drone wanted to find out his identity to recruit him or ask him for help was pretty big, but because he became a paranoid bastard after the mysterio bullshit... He decided to sift through all the files that could have any information as to what they could want him for. It seems as though they have already called some, you could say experts, but just like, people with brains. Lets go with that.
They have called in: Queen Shuri, Hope van Dyne, Janet van Dyne, Hank Pym, Rocket Raccoon, Doctor Banner, Doctor Strange and Wong. What really stands out to Peter, is that Doctor Strange and Wong have been called in.
which means that whatever is going on, is involved with magic and tech.
Which means it’s big and they’re getting desperate if they’re calling him. Its big and the public has not been alerted of anything.
That means they have time.
Hopefully.
It better isn’t the end of the world.
Although his nagging feeling in his neck, that probably his spider-sense is, has been going on for a while. Worry settles on his face, while he questions what he should. Being a very intelligent and almost sentient AI, M.E.S.S.Y. gives him her opinion on the matter.
She thinks that the chances that the avengers are going to try and arrest him are almost zero and with the worrying information that they got, it would be wise to let them approach him.
‘I’ll think about it’ He replies via text, as he shovels the thoughts to the back of his minds to focus on his students.
Giving a signal that he is done with his work, several teenagers walk up to him asking their questions.
It was already pretty late into the night when he finally sensed the drone. He tried his best to ignore it, with trying to save people and all the bullshit he deals with during patrol. The drone followed him well. He noticed that it did that better than yesterday. It was keeping their distance and didn’t move until he moved. It was time to get home.
It was 1:30 am and he had work tomorrow. Plus the drone would have an opportunity to follow him home. Win, win. Sort of.
Anyway…
His night was pretty usual, aside from the drone. And the morning wasn’t any different either. All though he did notice someone following him. Who it was he had no idea. He pretended not to notice them and just went on with his day. He might get a chance to spot who it was later. They probably did their research throughout the night and knew anything there was to find about him.
It wasn’t much.
When he went to pick up his coffee on his way to the school, he finally had a chance to see who was following him, without letting them know that he knew that they were following him. From his quick glance it seemed to be James Barnes. He wasn’t sure, but knowing the avengers were after him. It seemed most likely. With the bone structure and the hair. Nice to know they send an hundred year old assassin after him.
Eh, he’s fought worse. (The Hand is very skilled when it comes to coordination in numbers.) Plus, he fought him when he didn’t have even a little bit of experience in that kind of situations.
Really, why was he a teacher again. These people were learning nothing. They just can’t seem to focus on anything. Okay, lets calm down. A teacher is supposed to stay patient. It was the end of the day. After the class he could go home. He could do this. Okay, inhale…. Exhale…
“Make sure you take all the variables into consideration, people!” He said. He is so done with this.
If only he could just go out for a swing, forget about the day and just stop robberies or something. Someone please save him.
Oh hey… A man, black, tense posture, black sunglasses, baseball cap, red t-shirt, grey jacket, light blue jeans and red Jordans.
He tilted his head a little to the side when the man silently entered the class room. The students didn’t seem to notice and the class was almost done. Perfect timing if the person wanted to talk to him.
Making eye contact with the man -who he’s pretty sure is Sam Wilson, Captain America- and pointed with his head to the clock. This seemed to get out a little reaction of him in the form of twitch at the corners of his mouth, which would have resulted in a smile had he not have enough control of his emotions.
He was quite happy they send Wilson. The guy seemed like a good man and an even better Captain America then Steve Rogers had ever been. He seemed like someone that could use his words right. And he seemed like a common sense guy... Like Rhodey.
The bell rang and the students didn’t waste time putting their stuff away and going home. He didn’t blame them, he had the same reaction to that very same bell, at their age. Damn, he was really getting old, wasn’t he? He still felt half like a teenager. Maybe that was because of the fact that he was twenty four.
The man still standing in his class room coughed. Oh, right… Wilson. Peter sighed, walked back to the chair behind his desk and gestured towards the seat on the other side. Walking forward, Wilson took his baseball cap and sunglasses off and looked towards him with tired eyes. He sat down and began talking.
“Dr. Parker, I want to ask you for your help. We know you’re spider-man and that having this information might have been a huge breach of privacy. And we’re really sorry, but… You don’t seem surprised that we know this.” He realized as he saw that Peter’s face didn’t really show any surprise.
“I know,” Peter responded. “You guys weren’t really subtle with the drone. You only found out who I was because I wanted you too.”
Peter smiled light heartedly. This seemed to throw Wilson of. Pulling himself together remarkably fast, he continued. “I would ask why you let us know your secret identity after so many years, but I’m here for your help and I don’t really have the time. It’s not really something I should be discussing in a class room and I’m not really a science guy so I still have no idea what I would be explaining.”
He smiled a little. “But I should mention it’s a Thanos level threat.”
At the mention of Thanos, Peter almost flinched. Almost. He still hadn’t forgotten how it felt like to turn to dust, to have his atoms split apart while his body tried to somehow bind them back together..
“Would you mind coming to the compound with me?” Wilson didn’t seem to be lying when he mentioned the Thanos level threat -He could hear his heartbeat- and from all the information he put together. He responded.
“I’ll come with you, if you would be so kind not to arrest me. I’m a vigilante and last I checked, my entire existence is illegal.” Peter joked, resulting in a smile and Wilson’s posture relaxing.
“That’s never stopped us from working with people and… I promise not to arrest or put you in a cell.”
Peter chuckled and stood up. “Let me just grab my things and we can go.”
Nodding in return, Wilson put his cap and sunglasses back on and stood up too.
The ride was almost silent, neither knew what to say to the other. Peter’s mind had been reeling, what could result in a Thanos level threat? Thanos wiped out half the population. Would it be aliens? Or maybe it was a threat from another universe? It better not be a universal threat. He had enough of those.
“Why did you let us find you?” The question shook Peter out of his thoughts and he focused on the man behind the wheel.
“What?”
“Why did you let us find you? You never told us your identity before.”
Oh. Yeah, he didn’t. He didn’t go to the avengers after the spell or anything. He just continued with his ‘friendly neighborhood Spider-manning’ and stopped the international or extraterrestrial stuff all together.
“I maybe, kinda, sort of, maybe hacked you a little bit…” Peter answered sheepish. “I just wanted to know why Stark tech was following me and if it was stolen. Plus I thought it would be a sign of trust if I showed you my face.”
I quiet ‘huh’ left Wilson’s mouth as he thought about the answer. A ‘sign of trust’ and ‘I hacked you’ after each other. It was hard to see the trust.
“You hacked us?”
“What, like its hard? You really need to up your firewalls.”
“We thought that you would keep your identity close to you. We thought it was that important.” Wilson said, frowning.
“It is. But I also saw that you called in the van Dyne’s, Pym, the Queen of Wakanda, the sorcerer supreme, Dr Strange, Dr. Banner and even Rocket. It wasn’t hard to guess that something was going awfully wrong.”
“Yeah, like shit is everything going wrong. From what I know, the universe is ending. But I don’t know the technicalities and its really not my forte.”
“Well I hope I can help.”
“Me too, Parker. Me too.” Wilson muttered. It was soft, but Peter’s ears picked it up easily.