Archive of Our Own

Peter Parker really did feel like he was having a good day so far. He managed to catch the train to school, found a DVD player that was still working perfectly, and aced his algebra test.

Nothing bad has happened that would warrant the appearance of his alter-ego too.

…until he noticed a ‘crazy car’ parked outside the apartment where he lived. 

At first, he thought that it belonged to one of the tenants there, but it’s unlikely. All the people there knew that there’s a designated parking area for vehicles, so it must be a visitor.

He wasn’t expecting that visitor to be in his home, nor was he prepared for who it was, nor was he ready for the discussion he would have in his bedroom.

“N-No, I can’t go to Germany!”

“Why?”

“I got homework.”

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.”

Unamused, Tony Stark stood up and walked to the door while Peter was running out of excuses to fall back on.

“No, I’m being serious! I can’t just drop out of school!”

“Might be a little dangerous,” Tony agreed but made no move to stop. “Better tell Aunt Hottie I’m taking you on a field trip—”

Just as his hand was on the handle, Peter quickly fired a web line and kept it there. By now, the boy realized that he didn’t have a way out of this and quite frankly, the prospect of joining the Iron Man himself for something big was too tempting for him to entirely ignore.

“Don’t tell Aunt May.”

“All right, Spider-Man.”

Stark nodded, agreeing to that one condition. Both stared at each other silently, before the billionaire pointed to his hand in exasperation.

“Get me out of this.”

“S-Sorry, I’ll just… uh, do this…”

Peter quickly worked on dissolving the web fluid, prompting a quick acknowledgement from Tony for ‘being able to undo something that he’s also capable of making’. The boy felt a surge of pride in him, just as they opened the door. 

Standing before them was a girl with striking red hair and blue eyes. She wore a green jacket over a black shirt, a pair of pajamas, and slippers. She was also carrying several books with her. She met Tony’s gaze for a moment, before noticing the boy standing behind him.

“H-Hi, Peter. Is this a bad time?”

“And who’s this? Your sister?”

Tony looked back at Peter, who shook his head.

“No, she’s… my neighbor. Jean.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having someone over, kid? Look at that, we made her wait.”

“I-It’s okay, I’ll just drop by later—”

Thinking that she had just disrupted an important conversation, Jean prepared to leave and just come back later.

“No, no, it’s okay…! It’s okay, Jean! Mr. Stark was just about to leave anyway, so I can help you out with homework.”

“‘Mr. Stark’…?” her eyes slowly widened in realization. “Y-You’re Iron Man…?!”

“Yes, I am. And are you the one whom Mr. Parker was going to help with regarding homework?”

“Y-Yeah. I’m Jean… Grey.”

Tony frowned slightly, but more out of amusement. “Your hair doesn’t even come close to being grey but anyways, we were actually talking about you.”

“Me?”

“To be exact, Mr. Parker was telling me that he was busy with homework, so he had no time today. I thought at first he was referring to himself, but it turns out he was talking about you, so I’ll be excusing myself and leaving you alone with him.”

Stark walked past her and stopped by the door, turning around to give his newest recruit one last look.

“Don’t forget our scheduled meeting, Mr. Parker. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to pick you up in my ‘crazy car’ that your hot aunt will want a ride on.”

Peter quickly looked around, and nearly sighed in relief that May wasn’t here right now. Maybe she went outside for a moment, but at least she wasn’t around.

“I-I won’t.”

With that, Stark finally left and so did the deep breath that Peter was struggling to contain.

“You didn’t tell me Iron Man himself was going to be show up in your house."

“I swear, I didn’t even know he was coming today, Jean.”

“You don’t seem thrilled that Tony Stark just dropped by your house. Weren’t you a fan of the Avengers?”

“I am, I am, just… it’s hard to process everything that’s happening right now,” he took a deep breath and stepped aside like a gentleman. “But I still have to help you with homework, so come on.”

“You sure you can still help me, Parker? I wouldn’t mind giving you space to give your fanboy side some time to breathe.”

“Yeah, of course. Come on in.”

Peter grabbed the books from her hands and placed them on his desk. Jean took a seat and proceeded to show him the topics she was struggling to understand, while Peter was all too eager to help make things easier for her.

Normally, a boy and girl being alone in the same room together would be frowned upon, but this has been a regular thing for the past year that the people around them had gotten used to it, particularly his aunt and her mother.

Of course these two wouldn’t do anything suspicious, they’re just high school students, after all… or at least that’s the case for one of them.

While working on her homework, Jean broke the silence between them with these next words.

“Did you at least get his autograph?”

“You mean Mr. Stark’s? Uh… no.”

“That’s a bummer,” she pouted.

Peter chuckled at her reaction. “Here I thought I was the fanboy.”

“You are, but it’s Iron Man we’re talking about. The leader of the Avengers. You’d have to be crazy to not get his autograph.”

“No, he’s not. Captain America is the leader. Iron Man is just the face of the Avengers.”

“Whatever, we both know you’re a bigger Iron Man fan, anyway.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

Peter Parker had no idea what Tony Stark wanted with him, nor did he know why he’s going to Germany in the first place, but he was sure of one thing.

He has to get Iron Man’s autograph before the trip ends.

~o~

~o~

The school bell rang loudly across the halls, signifying the start of another period, but Peter paid it no mind. He was going to apologize to a certain someone first and then if possible, ask her out for homecoming. There’s a big chance of the second one not happening, and that’s because he made himself out to be a jerk in that person’s eyes.

For Peter, the last week had been so hectic that he was almost grateful for Mr. Stark taking his suit away. At the same time, it left him powerless and unable to do anything about that guy with metallic vulture wings.

Anyway, he shouldn’t think about that. It’s this exact train of thought that led to his recklessness which, in turn, put a lot of people in danger.

Right now, he was just Peter Parker.

“Hey, look, I, uh… I just wanted to apologize about the whole Decathlon thing. I really—”

“It’s fine. Last week, Decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died.”

“No, I, I just mean that… it was not cool, especially… especially…”

“What?”

“...I really did want to do my part. It wasn’t right that I got the jitters and quit at the last moment.”

“Oh… well, like I said, forget about it.”

Peter blinked a few times in surprise. He wasn’t expecting to hear such a nonchalant answer from Liz Toomes, but he wasn’t going to complain about it, either. 

Things were awkwardly silent between them, but their gazes never left the other. Peter knew to himself that this was his only chance to do this, especially now when he’s late for his next period, so he took a deep breath and continued on.

“I have to get to class, but, uhm… I guess you already have a date for homecoming.”

“Actually, I was so busy with the Decathlon that I never got around to that part."

A hopeful smile broke out on Peter’s face, suddenly being filled with vigor.

“Really? Uh, well… if that’s the case, I… I…”

“Yes?”

He wanted to say the right words, but nothing came out of his mouth for some reason. Peter didn’t know why he couldn’t just ask the question, especially now when he had finally mustered the courage to do this.

Meanwhile, Liz just stared at him, waiting patiently for what he was gonna say.

“...I-I hope you find a date soon. You’re an amazing girl, and… anyone would be lucky to have you as their date, Liz.”

The look on the girl’s face almost translated to disappointment, as if she was anticipating something else. Regardless, she smiled after a few moments and punched his shoulder affectionately.

“T-Thanks, I… hope you also find a date soon. You’re a pretty cool guy, Parker.”

“Thanks. I’ll… see you around.”

Peter had no idea why he couldn’t just ask her to be his date for homecoming, because that’s what he intended to do after apologizing. But what’s done is done, and now he still has no one to go with.

It would be easy to just skip out on homecoming at this point, but it’s honestly what he needed right now.

It would help him forget all about that Vulture guy, at least. 

Upon reaching his classroom, he was immediately marked ‘late’ by his instructor, but Peter didn’t care. His mind was completely elsewhere, particularly the possible reason why he didn’t ask Liz to be his date.

Did he chicken out at the last moment? Or did he actually want someone else to be his date?

Peter needed to talk to someone about this dilemma, and his eyes landed on one specific individual in the room… someone whom he felt comfortable discussing this with.

His eyes paid more attention to the clock on the wall more than the teacher for the remainder of this period, as though he couldn’t wait for class to end.

When the bell finally rang, Peter quickly acted.

“Jean, can we talk for a second?”

His red-haired neighbor didn’t say anything, but she remained where she was and waited patiently for him to start.

Boy, he could remember the endless barrage of questions she fired at him after he returned a few months ago.

What was he doing in Germany, did he meet the other Avengers, what was it like to see his idols, and if he took selfies with them.

Of course, he couldn’t tell her the real reason why he was there, so he just made up an elaborate story of what he preferred would have happened.

Still, one good thing that came out of that Germany trip was that managed to get Jean the Iron Man autograph that she wanted back when Mr. Stark first visited him, which didn’t take much convincing from the veteran hero.

All he had to do was say that his neighbor, Jean Grey, was asking for an autograph, and Tony instantly demanded for something to sign. Peter gave him one of Jean’s school notebooks, which she had given to him on the day he left.

Suffice to say, when Jean saw Mr. Stark’s signature, she was so happy and hugged him afterwards, leaving him feeling awkward about being around her for a bit.

“Hello? Earth to Peter? I thought you wanted to talk?”

Jean’s voice snapped him back to reality, and caused Peter to shake his head a few times.

“S-Sorry, got distracted for a bit. Uhm… do you already have a date for homecoming?” he asked, scrambling for whatever he could use as a response.

“Why are you asking?”

“I was kinda hoping that you would attend this year, b-because me and Ned can at least have someone to talk to.”

“Isn’t it rude to not pay attention to your date more than anything else?”

“That’s true. But it would still be nice to have a familiar face around. Maybe we could all hang out together as one group too.”

Jean sighed and folded her arms, like she was annoyed about something.

“Well, if you must know, a few guys did ask me to be their date. One after the other, if I may add.”

“Did you say yes to one of them?”

“Heck no. None of them were the least bit decent. They were all boasting about their looks, and nothing else. I’m honestly thinking of just skipping over homecoming again,” she groaned.

“Y-You don’t have to do that…!”

“And why not? Do you have a better idea, Parker?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

In Peter’s mind, the pieces began to click. He didn’t have a date yet, and Jean also doesn’t have a date. They’re close friends anyway, perhaps—

“What if… what if we go to homecoming together?”

Judging from the wide-eyed look on Jean's face, she was not expecting to hear that question.

“Wait, you didn’t ask that Liz girl? You said you were gonna do that today.”

“I-I was, but…”

“But…?”

“...I just… it didn’t feel right, asking her. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. A-At least not without asking you first.”

“Asking me?”

“I’m just gonna be totally honest, Jean. I’ve known you longer and you’re the best neighbor I could ever ask for. We get along pretty well, our families know each other, and I feel more comfortable with you than any other girl in school.”

That was when he realized it.

The reason why he couldn’t bring himself to ask Liz.

And it made him smile as he waited for her answer.

“So, uh… do you want to go with me to homecoming instead?”

As compared to the quick and cold answers she gave to previous boys who asked her out, Jean was speechless for a few moments.

She thought about it, and didn’t feel any kind of disgust or negative emotions about attending a formal dance with Peter. In fact, it sounded a lot better than going there with a guy whom she didn’t know.

Jean sighed in defeat.

“Well done, Parker. I don’t know how, but you just convinced me to attend homecoming this year, even if I still think it’s a waste of time.”

“Wait, is that a yes?”

“Yeah, it’s a yes. Did you want me to spell it out for you?”

A huge smile broke out on his face, which was reciprocated by the girl no less than a few seconds later.

“G-Great! Awesome…! I’ll… I’ll see you then?”

“Make sure you dress appropriately for the occasion, Parker. This will likely be the only homecoming I’ll attend, so at least make it one to remember.”

“Don’t worry, I will.”

Jean Grey had no idea why she felt immensely happy when Peter Parker asked her out to homecoming, nor did she know why her heart was beating faster inside her chest, but she was sure of one thing.

She has to make herself presentable for homecoming.

~o~

~o~

On the night of the event, Peter waited outside of the Grey family’s unit for his date. Jean’s older sister was the one to open the door for him, and Sara gave him a thumbs up after seeing his outfit.

Jean came out of her room a few minutes later, with their mother right behind her. Peter’s jaw slowly dropped upon seeing the outfit that his date wore for tonight, which made Sara and Elaine Grey laugh in amusement.

He had only seen Jean wear jackets, hoodies, shirts, and pants most of the time. This was the first time he saw her wearing something different, and it almost made Peter want to slap himself for thinking she was anything but beautiful.

On the other hand, Jean was uncharacteristically nervous about this whole thing, to the point that she thought of skipping over homecoming after all. But after seeing Peter's reaction to her, she felt a lot more confident and sure of herself.

She almost joined her sister and mother in laughing at Peter’s expression.

Peter’s Aunt May was outside of the unit, holding a camera in her hands and clearly excited to take a picture of the couple. Forced to stand together by Sara and Elaine, a couple of photos were snapped and saved in three different devices.

After enduring a relentless round of teasing from their respective families, Peter and Jean finally left for Midtown High.

Now that they were around other people with similar clothing, they were no longer the center of attention. They joined everyone else at the gymnasium, where it didn’t take long for the actual event to start.

Peter didn’t waste any time and offered his hand to his date, who rolled her eyes playfully before accepting it.

The pair began to dance along with the other couples there. While Jean knew of the basic movements prior to tonight, Peter actually had to be taught by May at the last minute.

Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that.

“Enjoying yourself, Ms. Grey?”

“I’m still convinced that it’s a better use of my time to just be at home, Parker.”

Both let out chuckles as Peter spun her around, while Jean followed his lead. His hands were on her hips while her arms were around his shoulders. For the next few minutes, nothing else mattered around them except for each other.

“You say that, but you haven’t stopped smiling ever since we got here.”

“Maybe I’m just putting on a happy face for you, because you’d cry about it if I was having a bad time.”

“But you aren’t. You’re enjoying the dance.”

“It’s getting tiring, honestly. And I need a drink because I’m thirsty.”

“As you wish, Jean.”

He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckle gently, before giving her a sly look. Jean was taken aback for a moment, before she punished him with a smack to the arm.

Peter led her to the refreshments area, where he handed her a cup of juice. He took one for himself and they drank in silence. Both were blissfully unaware of their hands still being intertwined with each other, at least until Peter took notice of a certain girl not far from them.

“Liz, hey! I’m glad to see you found a date,” he called out to the girl whom he was originally planning to ask out.

Liz turned to face him and smiled. She was with an older student, presumably a senior, who was too busy chatting with his peers to notice that the girl had left his side.

“Hey, Peter. Is she yours?”

“Yeah. She’s one of my classmates, but we’re also friends.”

Liz quickly offered her hand for a handshake, which Jean accepted without hesitation.

“Liz Toomes.”

“Jean Grey.”

“I can see why you went for her, Peter. Your date’s a 9 out of 10. Add one point for the red hair, and she’s actually a perfect 10 out of 10.”

The color on Jean’s cheeks matched her hair after that compliment, and it became worse after she heard Peter’s response.

“Yeah, Jean’s… she’s really pretty…” he stammered.

“At least you’re having fun, Peter. I wish I could say the same for myself.”

“But you found someone to go with, didn’t you?”

“I did, but as you can see, he cares more about yapping with his classmates than showing a girl a good time.”

Liz gestured to her date, who was still too busy hanging out with his friends to care about the girl he’s with.

“I can talk some sense into that guy,” Jean offered as her eye twitched in annoyance.

“Don’t mind him, I don’t really care. Besides, I have a bigger problem than this. I left my damn phone inside my dad’s car.”

“I can call him for you. What’s his number?”

Liz sighed, “No. Just forget it, Peter. He must have left town by now. Even if you did call him and he answered, he’s too busy.”

“Too busy? No father is too busy for their own child.”

“I wish that’s true, but whenever my dad’s neck-deep in his work, he doesn’t have time for anyone. I tried to get his attention once while he’s working, and he raised his voice at me. I never did that again.”

Peter’s eyes slowly widened, as he slowly absorbed Liz’s explanation into his thoughts. Though he tried to keep his mind off Spider-Man stuff, he couldn't help but think back to his previous encounters with that flying villain in the past weeks.

“It can’t be… is he really…?”

Peter didn’t want to jump to conclusions, not when the person who's possibly involved was associated with someone he knew, but the more he thought about it, the more things made sense.

“Liz? Did your dad say anything about why he’s going out of town for a few weeks? It’s just strange that he would leave when the sun is out.”

“He just told me and my mom that he’ll be making a lot of money once he’s done, but I don’t know what that means.”

Jean then noticed the look of bewilderment on Peter’s face and grew concerned.

“Peter? What’s wrong?”

His mind all made up, Peter turned to Jean and grabbed her by the shoulders, surprising her.

“I’m sorry that I have to do this. You deserve better than this, Jean.”

He wore a conflicted look on his face, while the redhead was just confused more than anything. Unfortunately, Peter had no time to answer whatever questions she may have.

He may not have any time left.

“Liz, can I have your number?” 

“Peter, you know that you already have a date, right?”

“I know this seems fishy, but I really, really need to have a talk with your dad. If I can’t reach his phone, I can at least reach yours. I’ll try to get your phone back for you too. Please.”

Like Jean, Liz was also confused at what was happening, but she saw no reason to make things hard for him.

He handed his phone to her, to which Liz quickly saved her number in his contacts before returning it to him.

“Thanks, Liz.”

Before he could rush off, Jean grabbed his hand and kept him from leaving.

“Peter, what the heck is going on?”

“I’m sorry, Jean. But I gotta go!”

“Peter!”

Growing more desperate, Peter broke free from her grasp and finally left the gymnasium… as well as her.

Jean was left frozen, before she snapped out of it eventually and left the place as well.

That being said, Peter Parker was already nowhere to be found. The hallways were still dark, and there’s no trace of him anywhere. It would be impossible to find him without any sort of clue left behind…

“If there’s anyone who knows where he ran off to, it’ll be Ned.”

…but Jean knew Peter enough to know where to start.

As she ran through the halls in search of Peter’s best friend, her vision suddenly began changing… almost as if she was seeing another place entirely… or is she actually there and not in the school anymore?

Instead of seeing a dark hallway, Jean was seeing herself in a car, sitting in the driver’s seat and driving… in a less than pleasant manner.

It was very brief, and it didn’t last for more than a few seconds, but it felt real. It felt so real that she had to stop and think about what just happened. 

“What the heck did I just see? What was that?”

Shaking her head, Jean continued on her search for Ned Leeds, which actually didn’t take that long.

She noticed that there were some lights coming from the school library, when everything but the gymnasium should be closed and free of any students. There shouldn’t be anyone in the library at this time.

Jean entered the room quietly, and she saw someone tinkering with two computers at once. She realized it was indeed Ned, and it sounded like he was talking with someone else at the same time.

“Okay, slow down. You’re getting close. It’s on your right.”

“What?”

“Turn right! Turn right!”

“Peter, are you okay?”

Hearing Peter’s name got her attention, and Jean walked over to him like a moth to a flame. She kept quiet for now, wanting to know everything that she possibly could about this.

“Yeah. Just keep trying to get through to Happy.”

“It’s been an honor, Spider-Man.”

Just after hearing that, Jean couldn’t keep her voice down any longer. So much for wanting to know everything.

“So this is what Parker’s been up to whenever he disappears out of nowhere.”

“Oh, shit!”

Ned immediately closed his laptop and turned around to explain himself, only to find himself face-to-face with the girl who’s supposedly his best friend’s date tonight.

“Uh… hi, Jean.”

“Ned,” she acknowledged while folding her arms. “I didn’t expect to see you here, much less talk to that Spider-guy like you’re his sidekick.”

“N-No, I was… looking at porn.”

“That’s cute, but I wasn’t born yesterday, Ned. I know what I saw and heard. I saw you tracking something on that computer and I heard you calling Spider-Man, ‘Peter’.”

Ned blanched, realizing that he didn’t have any other excuse to fall back to. At this point, he was just mentally praying that Peter would forgive him for this blunder… because he failed in his role as the guy in the chair!

“I know you’re Peter’s best friend, but I’m also worried about him. So I need you to tell me everything. What is going on?”

Jean Grey didn’t have a clue on how long he’s been keeping this a secret from her, or if he was even planning on telling her in the first place, but one thing is for certain.

She will get the answers she’s looking for from Peter himself, whether he likes it or not.

~o~

~o~

The aftermath of that Vulture fight didn’t come right away, which was the best case scenario for one Peter Parker.

Because he was able to deduce the true identity of that Vulture guy, Spider-Man was able to prevent him from getting the Chitauri tech and doing anything malicious with them. At the same time, finding out that it was Liz Toomes’ own father behind the mask was another story.

Shortly after his arrest, he was identified and his family was informed. Peter could only imagine what his daughter must have felt afterwards, leading to him jogging through the hallways in search of Liz after regular classes were resumed.

He may likely be the last person that she wanted to see, but it’s the least he could do after putting her dad in prison.

Peter eventually spotted her walking with an older woman holding a box, who was likely her mother. He quickly approached the girl and got her attention.

“Liz, look, I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong. My dad’s the one who—”

“You don’t have to tell me. I get it. I just wanted you to know that if you ever need to talk to someone, you can talk to me.”

“Thanks, Parker. Speaking of talk, what exactly did you use my number for? I checked my call history, but I didn’t see any calls from you.”

Peter shook his head.

“N-No. I gave it to Spider-Man, which he actually used to track your phone and then find your dad.”

“You know Spider-Man? That’s amazing!”

The smile that appeared on her face was so bright that it completely overtook her downtrodden look a while ago.

“I wish I could talk to him personally, so I could thank him. Not just for saving me, but… for saving my dad too. If he kept on doing what he was doing, then something worse might have happened to him.”

“He’d say, ‘you’re welcome’.”

“What are you, Spider-Man’s spokesperson? Speaking on his behalf?” she smirked.

“No, no, I just know what he’s like because he saved me once too. He wouldn’t be your ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ if he wasn’t like that.”

“Thanks. I really needed that,” Liz smiled. “Anyway, we’re moving to Oregon. Mom said it’s nice there, so that’s cool. Anyways, Dad doesn’t want us here during his trial, so…”

“I get it, don’t worry. Take care, Liz.”

“Bye, Peter. You and Jean make a good couple, by the way.”

The young man couldn’t stop himself from blushing deeply, because he was reminded once again of the school’s homecoming, particularly the time before he left.

“Uh… thanks?”

That was the last time he would see Liz Toomes in Midtown High.

The following day, Peter got a call from Happy, saying he was invited to the compound by Tony. There, he would be formally invited by his mentor to join the Avengers, going as far as to show him a new, upgraded suit with the same material as Iron Man’s latest technology.

Though he was tempted from the look of the suit alone, Peter would decline the offer and choose to stay the way he is, being a normal Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for now.

Bearing a proud look on his face, Stark respected his decision and had Happy bring the kid home.

“Aunt May, did you do dinner already?”

Peter called out to his aunt after making his way inside their apartment unit, but no one seemed to be around yet. He threw his keys on the table and went to his room to have a quick rest, only for his eyes to go wide at seeing what was waiting for him there.

A brown paper bag saying “This belongs to you. -TS” was on his bed, and Peter had to look behind him again just to check if there’s anyone there.

“May? Did anyone else come here?”

Still hearing no response, Peter eagerly put on the suit and took a good look at himself in the mirror. He pulled off his mask and smiled in delight.

It definitely felt good to wear this thing again, right after it was confiscated by—

“You seem pretty chipper for a guy who ditched his date back in homecoming.”

The boy’s pupils shrunk in terror, as he recognized whose voice that belonged to. He was almost afraid of turning around because of what he was still wearing, but maybe he can still find a way out of this situation with a logical excuse!

“J-Jean…! What— wha-wha-wha-what are you doing here…?!”

Upon turning around, he saw Jean Grey standing by the door, her arms crossed and her expression completely serious.

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Can it wait? We can talk later, just give me a minute, okay…?!”

“I waited a loooong time for you, Parker. Remember? You never returned to the damn party that night.”

“Jean, listen to me. I swear to you, I—”

The redhead cut him off with an audible groan, followed by her eyes rolling in annoyance.

“Ugh, don’t worry about it. I know why you left, anyway. I’m not here to chew you out for doing what I was planning to do the entire time. I’m here for something else.”

“Y-You are…?”

“Didn’t your best friend tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Jean groaned again, and made a mental note to herself about smacking a certain ‘guy in the chair’ the next time they meet… without ill intentions, of course.

“I know, Parker. I know all about your secret hero-vigilante thing now. In fact, you wearing that suit right now proves it even more, so don’t even try playing the denial game with me.”

Any elaborate excuse that Peter was thinking of in his head disappeared. He could still try, but he wasn’t going to waste any more time with that… not when he could just accept that he messed up and deal with the consequences.

Besides… only Ned and Jean know.

Two people, and they’re both close friends of his.

He can calm down, it’s not the end of the world.

“...how long?” he asked, sighing in defeat.

“When you left that night. I tried running after you, but you were already gone. So I ran around the school instead, looking for your best friend, and I found him at the library.”

“And then you heard us talking.”

“I remember Ned helping you out in some way too. I asked him what he knew and he admitted everything.”

Jean took a few steps forward, now standing directly before him but never taking her eyes off his face. Peter returned the same gaze, but his gaze still held a bit of hesitation out of fear.

“But I still need to hear it from you, Peter. I don’t care about what happened back a few nights ago anymore,” she said firmly. “I just want to know the truth. Are you really Spider-Man?”

“Yeah. I am,” he sighed. “But Jean, you have to understand… no one else can know, okay?”

A smile appeared on Jean’s face, feeling an overwhelming wave of relief and satisfaction after hearing Peter himself admit it.

“No need to panic, Parker. I know how to keep a secret, you know? Girls keep a lot more secrets than boys. And it’s not like I have friends to gossip with.”

“Thank you, Jean.”

“But in exchange for keeping your secret, you’ll have to tell me how it all came to be. And I also want to know what really happened when you were brought along by Iron Man for a trip. Now that I’m thinking about it, that couldn’t have been a simple vacation to Germany.”

“That doesn’t sound fair, asking for two things at once. I should get something too.”

“I think it’s fair, considering you did leave me behind without even telling me why.’

“You know why I didn’t. And I thought you said that I shouldn’t worry about it anymore?”

“I just said that so you wouldn’t beat yourself up over it anymore. It’s still not nice to leave your date alone and your only excuse is ‘sorry’.”

“Now that you put it that way, I guess that’s fair.”

“Don’t look so glum about it. It’s not like I’m gonna be a pain in the ass while I’m listening to you.”

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, leaving him feeling awkward and embarrassed… before slowly returning the gesture.

“Okay, you win, Ms. Grey. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“I expect nothing less, Parker.”

Jean raised her head to look at him, and Peter met her gaze with his own. For a few moments, things were silent between them and they were within their own little world…

“What the fu—?!”

“AH!”

Hearing that new voice caused Peter to nearly jump in fright, immediately separating from the hug with Jean as he turned to the door.

There stood May, who had a dumbfounded look on her face while staring at the two teenagers in the room… which also means that she can see his suit, clear as day.

…

…

…

Peter had no idea what direction his life would be heading from here, now that his secret identity was no longer a ‘secret’, but he did know one thing.

He will need a lot of rest when this day is done, otherwise he may as well announce Spider-Man’s identity to the entire world like Mr. Stark did!

~o~

~o~

Peter thought today would be a normal school field trip to MoMA, where he would do the normal everyday stuff that a student like him does.

Look at exhibits, take pictures, chat with Ned, give May a few updates, then walk with Jean the rest of the way… and maybe more.

If Spider-Man would be needed today, then so be it. It’s not like he had to explain himself to anyone in case he had to disappear, at least to a few individuals.

He wasn’t used to other people knowing his superhero identity but he had to admit, it took a massive burden off his shoulders. Before, he struggled with hiding his vigilantism from them using every excuse possible, but now he didn't have to hide anything from the people closest to him.

They understood he was Spider-Man, and they know it’s Spider-Man’s responsibility to help people who are in need, so he didn’t have to explain himself whenever there’s a need for him to disappear.

Peter felt glad that he could share his secret with them, because now he didn’t feel as alone as he used to be. There were people he could open up to, just like how they can count on him whenever the need arises.

That being said, he won’t be able to experience those normal student things today because his tingle just went off out of nowhere, while he’s still on board the school bus.

Denoted by the fur on his arms straightening like a warning sign, Peter looked to the window and saw a giant spaceship shaped like a donut ring floating by Manhattan Island. He had no idea what that thing was and what it’s doing there, but it’s clear that people need a certain spider.

“Ned. Hey,” he stood up and tapped on his best friend’s face a few times. “I need you to cause a distraction.”

Although he had a pair of earphones on, Peter got Ned to look towards the window and almost right away, his eyes were filled with fear.

“Holy shit… we’re all gonna die! There’s a spaceship!”

Ned’s terrified voice quickly got everyone’s attention, and they all gathered near the back of the vehicle to have a better glimpse at the spaceship in Manhattan.

Wasting no time, Peter put on one of his web-shooters and fired a line at the opposite window to open it.

He was about to leave but Jean, who was sitting right next to him, grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

“Peter, you can’t be serious. Are you really gonna fight that?” she asked, putting extra emphasis on the potential danger he might face.

“Spider-Man has to help people, Jean. Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

“I know what Spider-Man does, but you’ll be fighting against that! Are you crazy? Can’t you just let your Avenger buddies take care of it?”

“I’m sure they already are, but what if there are people who need saving? It’s not just about fighting the villain, Jean. I have to help but don’t worry, I’ll come back.”

“You better,” she huffed and looked away with a red face. “Because… I need to tell you something later. Something important. Got it?”

Jean knew the kind of person that Peter was like, and she wasn’t going to make him choose. That being said, he could really tone down on the recklessness because having spider powers doesn’t make him immortal.

“I got it. I’ll be right back,” he nodded happily.

With that, he zipped out of the bus through the open window with his knapsack. While swinging under the bridge below, Peter shifted his attention to the giant spaceship and swore to himself that this would be over quickly.

Upon reaching Manhattan all suited up, Peter would first see Iron Man being knocked down by a giant, menacing alien that looked straight out of a 90s movie. He quickly intervened before his mentor could be overwhelmed, while also learning more about the situation at hand.

Aliens invading Earth to steal jewelry from a wizard… yep, sounds like a normal day for the Avengers and for him… honestly.

While they were fighting together against the giant alien, an unconscious man being carried by a red cape suddenly zoomed past them, which Mr. Stark pointed to.

“Kid, that’s the wizard. Get on it.”

“On it!”

Swinging off into the buildings, Peter chased after the wizard as fast as he could, only to be thrown through a billboard by another alien… one that looked like Squidward Tentacles.

“So not cool!” he groaned and swung again.

Changing tactics, Spider-Man saw an opportunity when Evil Squidward attempted to trap the wizard using the lampposts. He fired a web line at the wizard after the cape got trapped and tried to swing away with him, only for the spaceship’s tractor beam to bring them both up.

“Mr. Stark? I’m being beamed up.”

“Hang on, kid.”

While Iron Man was trying to end his little skirmish as soon as he could, Peter was doing all he could to resist being pulled up, but the gravitational force was stronger.

The tractor beam stopped after the wizard got on board, nearly causing the teen to fall until a web line to the ship’s exterior stopped it. Peter fired another one and pulled himself up, just as the vessel began to ascend into the atmosphere.

Spider-Man managed to keep himself stuck to the ship’s exterior, but he was becoming too nauseous to focus on the task at hand. He felt as if he could fall at any moment, and his consciousness was fading too.

“Pete, you gotta let go. I’m gonna catch you.”

“But you said save the wizard!” Peter pulled off his mask and tried to gulp in a huge amount of air, but that just made it harder for him to stay awake. “I can’t breathe!”

“You’re too high up. You’re running out of air.”

“Yeah… that makes sense.”

Unable to stay conscious any longer, Peter passed out and almost fell off the ship… until an iron pod attached to his back and formed around his suit like armor. The young man woke up as soon as he could breathe properly again, and he planted his feet firmly on the ship to stay there.

“Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!”

Iron Man flew beside him for a moment, relieved that the boy was fine.

“Happy trails, kid. F.R.I.D.A.Y., send him home.”

A large parachute came out of Peter’s back, flinging him off the ship and seemingly sending him back to Earth.

“Oh, come on…!”

Convinced that the kid was now safe, Tony cut out a chunk from the ship’s exterior and made his way inside, completely alone and moving away from the world he knew.

However, things didn’t exactly go the way he intended them to because Peter had managed to fire a web line towards the ship, using it to climb into an airlock as it closed.

“I’m sorry, Jean… I might not be able to come back today.”

Back in the bus that continued on its way to MoMA, Jean had not taken her eyes off the window beside her ever since Peter swung off into the distance.

The spaceship over Manhattan was long gone, but for some reason, Peter hadn't returned yet and she couldn’t contact him at all.

Jean had no idea what kind of danger he was facing at this moment, nor did she know where he was exactly, but one thing’s for sure.

She wanted nothing more than to see Peter come back to her, safe and sound.

~o~

~o~

If they weren’t fighting for the sake of the universe, then Peter Parker would have marveled at the sight of another planet and what’s on its surface, but there was no time for anything inconsequential.

When Thanos had arrived, Peter felt unshakeable fear that was only suppressed by his tingle. He was able to ignore it in favor of following their plan, and they almost succeeded actually… but one’s emotions ended up as the reason for their failure.

Thanos was so powerful that he brought a moon crashing down on the planet, and Peter had to stop fighting to make sure everyone was safe from the crash.

After ensuring that the Guardians were all safe, Spider-Man tried to return to the action, but the Mad Titan was gone. All that were left in the battlefield were a grieving Peter Quill, a lamenting Dr. Strange, and a defeated Tony Stark.

Peter pulled up his mentor from the ground, just as they all felt something at the same time… a feeling of existential dread and despair in the air.

“Something’s happening.”

Mantis was the first to take notice of it and less than a second later, her body turned into dust.

…

Gone.

…

Everyone else stared at what happened with eyes filled with terror, and the next one that followed was Drax.

“Quill?”

…

Gone.

…

Only now did Star-Lord get hit with a wave of guilt, realizing his actions had cost him the lives of two other friends of his.

“Steady, Quill.”

“Aw, man.”

As the guilt ate him from the inside, the leader of the Guardians looked at Iron Man and groaned in displeasure, before disintegrating as well.

…

Gone.

…

“Tony…”

Iron Man turned to the sorcerer who had promised that he would never sacrifice the Time Stone for someone or something, still conflicted and confused on what to do now.

“...there was no other way.”

…

Gone.

…

Stark could only watch as the only person who had knowledge of the 1-out-of-14-million futures turned into dust as well, leaving him all alone to face this dilemma.

“Mr. Stark? I don’t feel so good…”

His pupils all but shrunk at hearing that voice, as he hoped to himself that what he feared wasn’t going to happen.

“You’re all right,” Tony reassured, but it sounded like he was telling that more to himself than the boy.

“I don’t know—I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t—”

Peter stumbled into Tony’s arms and he hugged his beloved mentor tightly. He clung to Stark like a lifeline, almost no different than a child that’s afraid of something bad that’s going to happen.

“I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna go. Sir, please! Please, I don’t want to go! I don’t want to go…!”

Tony tried to keep him upright, but the kid lost strength in his legs first, causing him to fall to the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

…

Gone.

…

Tony Stark was helpless as he watched the boy who was the closest thing he had to a son… disappear in front of his eyes.

…

…

…

…

…

Peter Parker saw nothing but darkness around him.

He couldn’t see his own body, but he could turn his head and look around as if he was still fully functional. That being said, nothing was around him as far as the eye can see and he didn’t know if he was conscious.

In fact, can he even see? For all he might know, his eyes were actually closed because he’s already dead. That’s what happened, right? It’s what happened to the Guardians, and he felt it coming moments before it actually came to him.

Still, is this what death’s supposed to be like? An endless void where he’d feel guilty about failing to keep his word about returning to a certain girl forever?

Sounds like a deserving punishment for him, really.

…

…

…

And then, in the distance, there was a lone, bright light… one that looked like burning embers from a flame.

…

In this situation, it would probably be best to stay away from it, because a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ usually means death. However, he seemed to be incapable of moving and he couldn’t exactly do anything when the light flew closer to him.

He got a better look at the ‘light’ when it stopped before his face, which really did look like a flame that was burning its own.

For some reason, the flame had taken the shape of a bird, spreading its ‘wings’ for Peter to gaze at. He looked on in wonder as the bird of flames circled around him gracefully, before stopping before his eyes again.

Peter was tempted to reach out and touch it if he had control of his arms, but at that moment, something extraordinary happened.

…

…

…

The flaming bird started glowing brighter and brighter and brighter, to the point that everything around him turned from black to white and Peter had to close his eyes.

…

…

“Kid…?”

When he finally felt that it had died down, Peter slowly opened his eyes… but he wasn’t in an endless dark space anymore, nor was he bathed in that strange white light. He just heard someone else’s voice too, and it sounded like Mr. Stark for some reason.

…

“Pete!”

After hearing that voice again, the boy snapped his eyes wide open as his desperate lungs gasped for air. What greeted his eyes was the orange-colored sky of Titan, which he last saw just a while ago.

Peter wouldn’t even get a feel of his surroundings or get a proper sense of what’s happening, because Stark had just lifted him off the ground and hugged him tight, while he could only frown in confusion.

Didn’t he fade away? He felt it coming when his senses went off like an earthquake alert… but now he’s back.

“Oh, thank god…” Tony whispered, tears slipping out of his eyes.

“Mr. Stark, what… what just happened?” he asked, unable to return the hug from his mentor because he was too confounded.

Tony had no reply, he simply kept on hugging the kid he thought he lost. He was afraid that Parker would disappear again the moment he releases the kid from his grasp…

The boy looked at the blue robotic woman who was with the Guardians, and what he noticed from her was a dumbfounded expression on her features, as though she couldn’t believe what she just witnessed.

It was almost similar to Tony’s.

Peter didn’t have a clue what just happened, nor did he have any idea how he woke up from the clutches of death, but there’s something in his mind that takes precedence over everything else.

He was desperately hoping that Jean, Ned, and Aunt May were still okay back on Earth.

~o~

~o~

Jean Grey was not having a great day.

…not because the MoMA was boring or that the exhibits were ugly, but because a certain individual never returned from his fight against that giant spaceship in Manhattan.

Despite the news that the ship had already left the planet hours ago, there hasn’t been any sign of Peter until now.

“He told me he was going to come back…”

Jean spent the entirety of the field trip being on her own, hopelessly waiting for a certain spider to finally show up, but he never did. Ned made some attempts to try and get her mind off Peter, but she just ignored him… not because she was mad at him, but because she was still holding out for hope that he would show up.

Today was supposed to be a normal day, where she’d spend time with Peter for the entirety of the field trip. She would laugh with him, have a few banters, smack him playfully, and just enjoy their time together.

It got ruined before it even started, and it’s all because of Peter’s responsibility.

She wasn’t going to fault him for choosing to help people, but she can definitely chew him out for not staying true to his word.

And even now, 24 hours later, Peter Parker still hasn’t showed up. He had already missed his classes and got marked ‘absent’ by the teachers.

His missing presence affected Jean to the point that she didn’t have the energy to even listen to the lectures, nor the people around her.

By the afternoon, after their classes had ended, Ned would once again try and cheer up Jean to the best he could. 

While they were walking through the hallway, they would take notice of something that would puzzle and bother the hell out of them.

Many people around them began to disintegrate into dust, as though they were made of the most fragile material. It didn’t happen all at the same time; some faded sooner than others, a few were able to notice what was happening before vanishing, and a selected number watched helplessly as it went down.

…that included both Ned and Jean.

All that was left in the air was a sense of dread and ongoing doom… one that could be sensed from a mile away.

“W-What just happened…? Why are some people going poof like they were in ‘The Mummy’?”

“Ned, snap out of it. We need to find out where Peter is, now!”

Ned blinked a few times, and turned towards Jean in confusion.

“Isn’t he still on his space crusade?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t stopped calling him since yesterday, but I never got an answer. He would have been back by now if he was, but he’s not…”

“Then that means he’s still on that spaceship…”

“We don’t know that for sure. Can you contact someone from the Avengers and ask about him?” she asked, her eyes full of worry and desperation. “Peter must have the number to at least one of them because he’s part of their team.”

Ned thought hard about it, even though his best friend had never mentioned anything calling other superheroes before. Then, a bright idea struck his mind… one that may likely end with it blowing up in his face instead.

“I can try one number, it’s just that he’s not really an Avenger. He’s still someone who could help, but he might not be happy to talk to me.”

“Why?”

“Because… we were kind of snooping around in Avengers business?”

“...during the Vulture thing?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, it can’t hurt to try. Go on. I’ll back you up.”

Bringing out his phone, Ned pressed on a few buttons and dialed Happy’s number. They waited for a few moments before the other line was answered.

“Hello? Mr. Happy? Hogan? Mr. Hogan?”

“Yeah, it’s Happy. Who is this?”

“Sir, I’m Ned. I’m Peter Parker’s best friend. You may know him as ‘Spider-Man’?”

“I’m in the middle of something important, so you better not be wasting my time. You know the kid?” the man’s voice carried annoyance and exasperation at the same time.

“Y-Yes sir, we actually worked together to stop a guy with vulture wings a few months back. We tried to warn you about him, but you didn’t want to listen to us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I think I remember you. What the hell are you calling me for?”

“I was wondering if Peter is there with you? With Mr. Iron Man as well?”

“No, the kid’s not here. Look, if that’s the only reason why you called this number, there’s nothing you need to worry about. Tony’s gonna take care of him.”

“Wait, wait, wait, sir!” Ned quickly spoke up before the call could be ended prematurely. “I think you need to know about what’s happening here too!”

“What…?”

“A lot of people here just turned into dust! We’re in our school, and many people around us faded away with the wind a while ago. We’re not sure what to do right now?”

The other line was quiet for a while, before Happy finally answered his question.

“Stay calm and just go home. Everything’s gonna be okay, kids. The Avengers are taking care of stuff.”

“I’m not going home until we get answers! What exactly is happening right now?!”

Unable to keep herself quiet any longer, Jean’s worries came full front as she grabbed Ned’s phone and all but yelled at the man on the other line.

“Look, I don’t know! I’m just as confused as you kids are! I have no idea what’s going on too!”

“It also happened there, didn’t it? People disappeared where you are. You’re the only one left, or one of the few people who’s left.”

“Don’t think much about it. Let us handle it, kids. Once Peter shows up here, I’ll take him back to you guys.”

“We haven’t been able to call him at all! He’s up there in outer space with Iron Man!”

“That’s exactly why you should just leave this problem to the superheroes. Your friend is in good hands, that’s for sure.”

“I thought the Avengers were supposed to help people. Why can’t you at least hear us out? If the disappearances happened here and over there, isn’t it likely that this has happened in other places too? This is not just about Peter anymore, it’s about the people you’re supposed to protect!”

“I’m not part of the Avengers, kid. I’m the head of security, and that’s it. It’s not my job to babysit kids, so just go home, check on your families, and stop worrying too much. Let the Earth’s mightiest heroes handle it.”

Before Jean could say anything else in response, the call was disconnected. She tried to dial the same number almost right away, but no one answered from the other line anymore this time.

“Well… he’s not happy, that’s for sure.”

“No shit. Neither am I,” she scoffed and handed back the phone.

“I think Mr. Hogan made a good point, though. I need to get home and… make sure my family’s safe. I’ll give you a call later, Jean.”

Ned walked on ahead, moving in a hurry and leaving his friend behind. On the other hand, Jean stood in the middle of the empty hallway, her head dipped low while she retreated into her thoughts.

A while ago, Peter Parker was all that she could think of but after Ned made an understandable decision to go home for his family, Jean thought about the two other important people in her life.

“Sara… Mom…”

That was all it took for the girl to finally move from her place, as she quickly headed home.

Her worries grew even more at the thought of something terrible happening to her family. She didn’t know how they’re doing right now, and she had not received any kind of message or even call from them.

She could only hope that Iron Man was indeed taking care of Peter up in space, because she won’t be able to forgive him if anything bad happened to the boy she valued more than most.

~o~

~o~

For the third day in a row, Jean woke up from bed feeling like shit.

No, it’s not because something interrupted her sleep and caused her to be cranky. It also wasn’t ‘that time of the month’ for her.

It’s because she woke up to a quiet apartment, and she had to remind herself once again that she was the only tenant here now… both in this unit and floor entirely. There were still about seven people left and they all lived downstairs.

But what’s the point? Without her mother and her sister, she felt completely alone either way.

A few days ago, when that strange phenomenon happened in school, Jean rushed home to check on Sara and Elaine Grey. She hoped and prayed that they would both be at home, greet her with smiles after she walks inside, and then she’d be relieved that her family was safe and sound.

Upon reaching the apartment, Jean didn’t see anyone around… but there were a few things she noticed.

The TV was on and it was on the movie channel, which is what Sara normally watches when she’s at home doing nothing. Aside from this, some vegetables were gathered by the sink, along with a knife and a chopping board. Her mother was likely in the middle of preparing something good for dinner that day.

And then, Jean took a look at their phones.

Eighteen missed calls for each number, and a ton of messages from her while she was on the way here.

That was all the confirmation she needed.

Her family was gone, and she had no idea why.

Not only Peter, but now her mother and sister too.

They’re just… gone.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Jean fell to her knees and let out the most heart-wrenching, guttural scream as loud as she could that day… as if she wanted the whole world to hear her.

Everyone she cared about had disappeared, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

At the very least, she knew why Parker was still not around. There’s a tiny ray of hope for him to come back, no matter how small it is. With her family, she’s just as confused as everyone else who didn’t turn into dust.

She locked herself in her room for the remainder of that day, not even bothering to come out for dinner, because nobody else was around her.

Jean went to sleep while her mental state was still in a mix of confusion and despair, and it affected her for the days that followed.

Today, nothing much was different. All she’ll do is make something to eat for herself, take a shower, and then stare at her phone all day, hopelessly waiting for a text message or a call that might never come.

Maybe she’ll take a look at some photos here and there, but that might make her feel more miserable than she already is.

Speaking of which, not even Aunt May was spared.

The day after finding out her family dusted away, she remembered Peter’s aunt and quickly checked on the unit next door.

Jean wasn’t surprised when she didn’t see anyone there, but it just made her feel more alone and isolated than before.

After eating and taking a shower, she sat on the couch and stared longingly at her phone. 

Only a few minutes had passed and she already felt a few tears escape her eyes, the urge to give in to her sorrow growing larger by the second. This would be the seventh time in three days that she’ll cry her eyes out, but what else could she do?

She was alone and had no clue what happened to everybody around her. At this point, it would have been better if she just turned into dust too… 

—and then her phone began to ring.

The girl was filled with hope for a brief moment, only to see that it was just an incoming video call from Ned. Jean sighed, but forced herself to look calm and collected before accepting the call.

“Hey, uhm… I don’t know if this is a good time but I need to tell you— Jean, are you okay?”

Ned must have noticed the remaining redness in her eyes, making her wipe any further traces of tears away.

“I’m fine, what is this about?”

“Uhm, I know this sounds crazy, but Mr. Hogan called me a while ago. He asked for both our addresses, and then told me to tell you that he’ll be picking us up from our homes.”

“For what?”

“I honestly don’t know. But I have a good feeling that it has something to do with Peter.”

“Are you sure about that, Ned? If Parker was back, then he would have called both of us already. Or he’d reply to my damn messages at least.”

“You’re right. Peter’s not back yet, but we might be getting close. Mr. Hogan’s not the kind of person who’d call Spider-Man’s sidekick out of nowhere. I have a feeling that he’ll be taking us somewhere important.”

Jean rolled her eyes and sighed. She didn’t want to be optimistic about this but at the very least, it’ll give her the chance to be out in the open.

Even she was getting tired of being holed up in here with nothing to do.

“Fine, let’s see where this goes. How long before he gets there?”

“Call just ended a while ago, but he did say he’ll drop by an hour from now. I’ll get ready after this.”

“Got it. I hope there’s more to this than just a simple field trip, Ned… I’ve already had enough of that.”

“Me too, honestly.”

With that, she ended the call and thought about what’ll happen later on. 

Jean didn’t know if this was going to bear any fruit in their efforts to find a certain wall-crawler, nor did she have faith that their search will end today, but there’s one thing she absolutely wanted to happen.

She hoped that this would at least make her forget about the tragedy that happened a few days ago, because it was still weighing heavily in her mind.

~o~

~o~

Jean and Ned followed Happy into a huge estate, one that was completely alien to her but looked fascinating to the eyes of her friend. She kept her gaze on the man who drove them, while Ned turned his head towards every direction as a way of taking all of this in.

The ride in the car was pretty quiet the whole time, because no one wanted to start a conversation. Happy was too focused on the road, Ned theorized about where they were going, while she was still hung up with thoughts about Peter and her family.

Upon reaching their destination, Happy revealed that they were at the new Avengers facility and explicitly told the teens to just follow him. While Jean had no prominent reaction whatsoever, Ned was doing his best to keep the fanboy side of him under control… but it was taking every bit of his mental fortitude to do so.

Happy led them to a lounge on the ground floor, complete with a mini-kitchen, a dining table, and an entertainment area. He faced the two teens with a serious look.

“You two just stay here and don't go anywhere, all right? Someone’s gonna come here in a bit to talk to you.”

Jean scowled. She was already in a bad mood ever since the day started, and this wasn’t making it better.

On top of that, she hasn’t forgotten how this man hung up on them while they were still in the middle of a conversation a few days ago.

“You know, just because you’re the head of security in this place, it doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole.”

“W-What the hell does that mean?”

“You brought us here for a reason and you don’t even tell us what reason that is?”

“Hey, like I said, I have more important things to do than babysit a couple of kids. Just wait here, someone else is gonna talk to ya.”

“More important things to do? Like what? In case you haven’t caught up, New York is like a ghost town right now. You need to make sure this place is secure? You think someone’s gonna try and get inside this place when there’s something bigger going on?”

“Listen, little lady, I—”

“No, you listen to this ‘little lady’. Why can’t you give us a straight answer? Are we here because you found out where Peter is? Or for some other reason? The sooner you give us an answer, the sooner we’re out of your hair.”

Happy opened his mouth to say something, but his retort died immediately when someone spoke up before he could.

“Let them vent a little, Happy. They’re just worried about Peter, and I get where they’re coming from,” a woman with bright orange hair walked into the room. “It’s true that he should have never come along with Tony, but is there anything to be gained by imagining what could have been?”

Both teens turned their heads towards the woman, and Ned’s eyes widened at who it was.

“Y-You’re Mrs. Stark…!”

“The wedding’s put on hold, unfortunately, but thank you. You mentioned you were Peter’s friend?”

“Y-Yes, ma’am. I-I-I’m Ned.”

“Just ‘Pepper’ is fine, Ned.”

“T-Thank you, Ms. Pepper.”

“What about you?” Pepper Potts turned towards Ned’s companion, smiling knowingly. “Are you… Peter’s girlfriend?”

The growing frustration that Jean had earlier was slowly dissipating, especially now after hearing that sudden question. Instead of being red with anger, she was turning red from embarrassment.

“Uhm… n-not exactly…”

“It’s okay, dear. You don’t have to force yourself. I used to be in the same position you're in right now,” she chuckled. “Me and Tony didn’t put a label on our relationship for a while too.”

Jean wanted to respond in some way, but wisely chose to keep quiet for the moment.

Now wasn’t the time to think about Peter like that…

“You must be wondering why I had Happy bring the two of you here. Well, I have some good news and bad news. And this has something to do with Peter.”

Pepper walked to the center of the room where a holographic table was placed. After pushing a few buttons, a holographic projection of a quinjet’s interior was shown, revealing Captain America and the rest of the Avengers inside.

“The good news is that the Avengers are on their way back here. We’ll finally get some answers on what exactly happened that caused everyone to turn into dust one afternoon.”

Both Jean and Ned looked through the different people aboard that quinjet, in search of one particular person, but he was nowhere to be found.

“The bad news is… as you can see, Tony and Peter aren’t with them.”

Swiping that projection away, Pepper then brought up news footage from several days ago, when Manhattan was attacked by an alien spaceship. Multiple outlets even managed to capture both Iron Man and Spider-Man fighting against the aliens.

“According to Bruce, both of them were on the giant ship that was hovering over Manhattan a couple of days ago.”

“Bruce, as in… Dr. Bruce Banner? The Hulk?” asked Ned.

“The same one. Tony actually wanted F.R.I.D.A.Y. to get the kid home but because he’s not here, there’s no use denying it. He’s up there in space with Tony, and we have no way of reaching him.”

“Peter’s still in space…”

“Are you sure, Ms. Pepper? Isn’t Iron Man, like… a genius? Maybe he has a way to reach out to someone in space?” asked Jean.

“If he did, he never told me about it. And I choose to believe he hasn’t made anything,” Pepper shook her head and turned off the projections. “Anyway, what we should do right now is wait for Captain America and the rest of the team to arrive. Until that happens, make yourselves at home.”

Both Pepper and Happy left the teens on their own afterwards. While Jean stared lifelessly at the projection table, Ned walked around and stared at everything in fascination.

“I can’t believe I’m actually standing inside the Avengers compound right now. This place is mind-blowing.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s a dream come true for you…” Jean mumbled.

“Jean, it’s gonna be okay. Peter will be fine while he’s with Iron Man. They’re both working together to make it back here. What matters now is we wait for Captain America to tell us more about the ‘Mummy situation’ we have here.”

That served as a reminder for Jean that Peter’s space situation isn’t the only problem they’re facing… just one of them.

…at least all of this took her mind off the whole ‘everyone-turned-into-dust’ thing though, which is what she wanted to happen in the first place.

“You’re right. I still want to know more about why almost everyone around us disappeared. At least we know why Parker's not around yet.”

“Exactly. The Avengers will give us the answers we’ve been looking for, Jean.”

Compared to how she was earlier, Jean didn’t feel as angry now, likely because the Avengers themselves will explain everything. If anyone can give them concrete answers that make sense, then it’s them.

“I guess…” she sighed deeply. “I’m gonna get something to drink.”

Walking over to the kitchen, Jean grabbed a jug of water from the fridge and poured herself some in a glass. The girl felt a big sense of relief because she would finally get what she’s been looking for this whole time.

What was actually three days of sorrow felt like an entire week of isolation for her, and now it was going to end soon.

She turned towards a nearby dish rack and adopted a thoughtful expression for a moment, before calling out to her friend.

Now that she had calmed down considerably, Jean remembered something that happened to her not that long ago… something that Ned would definitely have a big reaction to.

“Hey, Ned. Look at this.”

Taking a deep breath, Jean reached out with her hand and focused her gaze on a single teacup there. Within seconds, the cup sprang up into the air like it had a mind of its own, before floating over towards her.

Ned watched with wide eyes as it happened, and he even wiped them a few times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“Wait… Jean, h-how did you do that? Do you have some kind of magnet in your hand?”

“No magnet is strong enough to get something from this distance. And even if there was, it wouldn’t work because this thing is made of ceramic.”

He stared in shock as Jean continued to explain what she did.

“...I just thought of it. I wanted this to come to my hand and somehow, it does what I want it to do.”

“You actually have telekinesis… you can make things move with your mind!”

“I guess so.”

“Since when…? How…?”

“Ever since…” Jean’s gaze lowered sadly. “...ever since I went home and realized that Sara and my mom were gone. Every tenant on our floor was gone, even… even Peter’s aunt. I was the only one there, and… I ended up throwing a vase into the wall. I didn’t throw it with my hand… in my mind, I wanted to throw something against a wall to vent, and it actually happened without me doing anything. I just thought about it.”

Ned suddenly felt awkward after asking such a ridiculous question… and incredibly guilty.

“Oh, uhm… I get that feeling. N-Not the throwing something against the wall part, though. When I got home a few days ago, our house was completely empty. I realized my lola and the rest of my family turned to dust too.”

He cleared his throat rather loudly, wishing to move on from the topic before it sours her mood.

“Anyway, this is cool. How come you have this kind of power? Where did it come from?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t remember getting bitten by any radioactive animal, I’m not a magician of any sort, I’m not using some kind of technology because that’s not my thing, and I don’t remember being experimented on when I was a kid.”

“Well… maybe you were actually born with it and you just found out now. Maybe you’re just special.”

“Special… yeah, right. This makes me a freak.”

“No, no, you’re not. This is amazing, Jean! If I wasn’t your friend, then I’d be jealous. Telekinesis is one of the most useful powers there is, and you somehow have it. Just think of all the things you’d be capable of!”

The redhead placed the teacup back normally while she thought about what he said.

She didn’t say it out loud, but Jean felt grateful that Ned was Peter’s best friend. Ever since the day she got introduced to him, Ned has been nothing but supportive, optimistic, 

Peter was lucky to have a friend like him, and she’s even luckier to have that privilege be extended to her.

“Could you… not tell Peter about it? I want to be the one to tell him,” Jean asked quietly.

“Sure thing.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m gonna walk around the facility. Wanna come?”

“No thanks. Are you sure about what you want to do, though? Ms. Pepper and that head of security may catch you snooping around and kick you out of here for good. You won’t get to meet the Avengers at all,” she smirked.

“I-I’m not going to touch anything. I’m just going to take a look at the Avengers compound and what’s inside it.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll just be here.”

While Ned left the lounge, Jean walked back to the couch and sunk back into the seat. She sighed deeply, before hugging her knees close to her chest.

“I don’t exactly know where he is, but… Ned’s right. Peter is fine. I’m sure he is. Because I don’t know what I’m going to do if he’s not.”

Jean didn’t know how Peter was doing exactly, nor could she say that her worry for his well-being was completely gone. That being, she was certain of one thing.

She hoped that the Avengers will give her all the information she’s been looking for and, if possible, they could try to establish contact with Iron Man and Spider-Man by any means necessary.

~o~

~o~

Within the damaged and unmoving vessel called the Benatar, Peter Parker limped towards one of the sleeping quarters for its passengers and sat down with a groan. His injuries and wounds sustained from the battle on Titan had mostly healed, but starvation and thirst were different things entirely.

He leaned against the wall behind him and took a deep breath, before looking at the Spider-Man mask right beside him, which was sitting comfortably on top of his suit.

It’s been a week and a half since that day, and they had no clue of what happened… aside from the obvious fact that Thanos had won and half of the universe was snapped out of existence, leaving him, Tony Stark, and Nebula all alone on that planet.

They managed to get the Benatar to work and take them into space again, but only for about two days. As soon as they ran out of fuel, the ship stopped moving and now they were stranded in deep space, millions of miles away from Earth.

“Mr. Stark told me that I should eat the last ration tomorrow… he was scared for me, but I told him that there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be scared for himself more. I’m the one with spider powers, he’s the normal guy between us.”

They did an inventory count after leaving Titan, and it concluded the remaining food on the ship would last for ten days, if it was split up between three people. The Guardians weren’t able to stock up on supplies before the battles that occurred, which was understandable given everything that happened.

Two days ago, Nebula gave up her food so that Peter and Tony could share it. Today, Tony gave up his food so that he and Nebula could eat. Tomorrow, he was planning on doing the same thing as them but someone attempted to put a stop to that.

“We actually got into an argument about it yesterday. He keeps telling me that he doesn’t deserve to eat because he almost let me die, but everything that happened to me lately is not his fault. It’s mine. I wanted to come along and help save the world, even though Mr. Stark told me to go home. I screwed up and my own actions almost led me to my own doom. I stopped arguing with him when I saw him crying, and I didn’t bring it up today. That being said, I still don’t want to eat the last of the rations… I’m hungry, but I’m not made of glass.”

Ever since they left Titan, the armored avenger barely spoke to him. At first, Peter thought that Stark was angry with him after everything that happened, and he would be justified in feeling that way.

However, Tony kept on looking out for him. He continuously reminded Peter to eat, refused his help in ship maintenance, and made it clear that he should just rest and keep his chin up.

He had no idea if Tony was scared or felt guilty but at this point, is there any difference?

“I mean… I kind of get Mr. Stark’s point. Maybe not the part about him being responsible for me, but me almost dying. If I was supposed to be one of the people that got dusted away, then I should have been. But here I am, feeling hungry, thirsty, and homesick.”

His senses were blaring like an alarm when it happened, and he had never felt more scared in his entire life. Peter thought it would really be the end of him at that moment, and it all happened so suddenly.

But, by some miracle of any sort, he was brought back to life after being turned into dust. He actually felt it happen, but he had no idea why.

Why was he brought back to life after being turned into dust?

Why not everyone else too?

What made him so special that he was still here? 

“I still have no idea how that happened. Mr. Stark refused to share any details for obvious reasons and Nebula, our mutual friend here, just told me that she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw me again. It’s not really the explanation I wanted, but that confirms it. I should have died, but I didn’t. Something kept me alive, but we have no idea what it is.”

Peter hugged his knees close to his chest and thought about his best friend.

“Ned, if you were here right now, you’d freak out at seeing space up close and personal. I’ve been dealing with aliens and life with other planets until now. If I could, I’d take you up here myself and we’ll go find a planet that looks like Tatooine and claim it for ourselves.”

He thought of his aunt next, who was the only family member he had back home.

“May, you’re probably angry with me for leaving Earth without telling you. No, scratch that, you’re definitely angry with me. You might ground me for months or an entire year… but that’s if I get back. If I ever get back…”

Lastly, he thought of the girl whom he made a promise to. She was the one whom he thought of the most

“Jean… I’m sorry. I know I promised I’ll come back to you, but it seems like I won’t be able to keep it. Right now, you’ll call me an idiot, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I’m such an idiot, Jean. I should have gone back to the bus after Mr. Stark told me to. Spider-Man… Spider-Man almost died fighting someone he shouldn’t have… and he almost gave someone else the fright of their life…”

Tears started falling down his face by this point, but Peter made no move to wipe them away. 

“I don’t even know why I’m doing this. It’s not like there’s any recording feature in my mask… but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to say goodbye… even if it’s just in my mind… because I’ll likely die out here. Just twelve days after we were all in the fight of our lives…”

Honestly, if this was the way he was going to die, then being turned to dust suddenly doesn’t sound so bad. It would have been less painful and agonizing to go through but then again, Mr. Stark would be in worse shape if he did.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get back, but… I hope Jean’s okay… and Ned… and May. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you guys…”

Unwilling to close his eyes and sleep, Peter stood up not long after and decided to check on his mentor.

He found Tony at the cockpit, asleep beside his busted Iron Man helmet but in bad shape. The man was exhausted, starving, and weakened by fatigue. His wounds from the battle against Thanos have not healed yet, his face looked sunken and hollow, and his breathing pattern was very slow.

Nebula walked past him, before carrying Tony into her arms. She took him to one of the seats and laid him there correctly, with Peter making sure that he’s all secured in place. 

He gave Nebula a grateful smile while she walked away, before turning his attention back to the sleeping Tony.

“I know you want to keep me safe, Mr. Stark… but I can’t let you do that while you’re suffering too. Still… what does it matter? In the end, we’re still stuck up here.”

While staring at Tony’s weakened face, Peter noticed a light shining on his face. The light seemed to glow brighter and brighter to the point that Stark had to open his eyes. Both student and mentor turned to the source of the light, which appeared to be a blonde woman floating outside of the ship, wearing a strange red-blue uniform, and had powers that emulated the sun… at least that’s what it looked like.

Peter had no idea who this person was nor did he know if she could be trusted, but one thing is for sure.

The fact that his tingle wasn’t going off like a blaring alarm gave him a feeling of hope that he hasn’t felt since the battle on Titan.

~o~

~o~

Laying peacefully on a bed, Jean Grey stared lifelessly at the ceiling above her… a routine she had gotten used to doing ever since she and Ned arrived here more than a week ago.

After the Avengers arrived at the compound, Pepper introduced them to the team as Spider-Man’s closest friends… two people who knew of his identity as Peter Parker.

While Ned’s fanboy side was on full display upon seeing these heroes up close and personal, Jean was different.

Although the team tried to maintain a strong facade, she could easily notice that they were trying to avoid a certain topic. And so, she asked them what could have caused the disappearance of many people around her, including her sister and mother.

Most of them didn’t want to answer her at first, for whatever reason, but Captain America wasn’t the same.

He stood in front of them and explained what happened in the span of a few days, at least from their perspective.

It didn’t take long for Ned and Jean to put two and two together, after hearing the words ‘Thanos’ and ‘snapped’ in the same sentence. Jean was completely quiet after everything she heard, while Ned put the summary of events into words… as much as it hurt him to say it.

Out of nowhere, Jean began crying out in despair, making Ned panic and immediately went to comfort her. Even Steve Rogers moved from his place to offer some words of reassurance for the girl.

But it was too late.

Several furniture and things from the kitchen began vibrating and throwing themselves into walls, leaving shattered remains everywhere. It only stopped when Pepper brought Jean in for a hug, calming her down somewhat.

Needless to say, the Avengers got a front-row view of her power and made them realize that the young girl with them was very similar to Wanda, especially when it came to the emotional side of things.

After a few days, Jean was able to calm down and process everything better. She still felt a crushing sense of despair and helplessness from all this tragedy, but she was in better control of her emotions this time.

Now, despite wanting answers for clarity, nothing could have prepared her for what she would hear… along with the respective implications.

Not only was her family snapped out of existence, she still had no idea if Peter was safe or the same as them. What’s worse was that the Avengers didn’t know his location or if he was alive, because they had no contact with Iron Man whatsoever.

“Thanos…” 

The girl felt the urge to take a chunk from something and throw it against the wall out of anger, but forced herself to keep it in. She already messed up by giving in to her emotions in front of the heroes, she didn’t want to make it strike two in their high-tech facility.

“Why did you have to leave the bus that day, webhead? Why didn’t you come back like you said you would? I was going to tell you something I wanted to say—”

Her thoughts would be interrupted when someone knocked on the door, making her turn towards whoever visited her in the middle of the night.

“Jean? I think you should get up. There’s something you have to see outside.”

That was all she needed to hear before getting off the bed and following.

Ned wouldn't tell her that unless there was something truly worth seeing, and the guy knew that she wasn’t like Peter who gets excited about a lot of stuff.

Out in the yard, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey watched as an enormous spaceship landed on the ground, carried by a blonde-haired woman wearing a red and blue uniform. The entry hatch then opened, revealing a weakened Tony Stark walking out with Nebula supporting him.

Steve quickly ran towards them, letting Tony lean against him for support while Nebula stayed behind.

“I couldn’t stop him.”

“Neither could I.”

“I… I almost lost him…”

Tony slowly turned his head towards the last passenger of the Benatar, who limped out of the ship with his head high and smiling in relief at finally making it home.

“The kid's got heart, but he made people worry about him… just like you.”

“I-Is uh…?”

Stark struggled to get the next words out of his mouth, fearing the possible answer that could come out of Rogers’ mouth… until a certain someone ran up to him with tears in her eyes, making him sigh in relief.

Peter smiled weakly at seeing Tony and Pepper being together again, especially after spending nearly two weeks out in the reaches of space. Mr. Stark was definitely in worse shape than him, though he wouldn’t mind it if he could also get some rest now.

"Peter?"

Hearing that voice, Peter turned his head and saw a red-haired girl whom he thought he would never be able to see again. He had feared that she would be part of the people who were turned to dust, so seeing her tonight… made him feel like he could breathe properly again.

"Jean…”

"Oh my god…”

With tears in her eyes, Jean rushed at him, wrapping her arms around his frame so tightly as if he was going to disappear again. Peter did the same, resting his chin on top of her head while thinking to himself that this wasn’t a dream of any kind.

This was real, and Jean was actually here with him.

"You're okay… you're okay…”

"I'm okay… I'm okay, Jean…”

“You’re back… you’re here…”

Too overwhelmed with emotion to say anything else, Jean cried into his chest. Even Peter couldn’t stop himself from shedding tears, especially when someone else who’s important to him slowly approached them.

“Peter…”

“Ned…”

“I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Giving in to his emotions, Ned didn’t hesitate to hug them both as he cried too. The sense of dread and sorrow that loomed over the three of them for the past week was finally gone, and all it took was for them to be together once again.

“Same here… I’m so glad you’re both safe…”

Peter smiled despite his tears. He had no idea how bad things were around here, how much of the world got dusted away, or if May was even one of the survivors, but the young man was sure of one thing.

He was glad that he wasn’t entirely alone, even when the world was now in a global crisis.

It took Tony and Peter another week and a half to properly recover from their horrible condition, although it was Stark who needed a lot more medical care due to his mental state also being affected.

Peter had the benefit of having a healing factor, and his mental state wasn’t in shambles or anything.

Despite recovering quicker though, he was not allowed to go outside of his room… at Jean’s insistence.

She and Ned were allowed to continue staying in the compound because of Peter, and because they had nothing to go back to in Queens, anyway.

Jean was very specific in what she wanted to happen, and that was for Peter to stay in his room until she deems him fully recovered from everything. That meant he wasn’t allowed to go outside for any reason, especially for Spider-Man stuff.

When Peter brought up that he would still need to go to the bathroom for obvious reasons, Jean simply said that she would wait outside and bring him back to his room to make sure he doesn't sneak off… much to Peter’s embarrassment.

She didn’t leave the room either, apart from the instances when she’d use the bathroom as well. Of course, Jean made sure to bring in Ned as a substitute pair of eyes whenever that happened, just to make sure he doesn’t sneak away.

As for sleeping, she would either do that while sitting on her chair or settle beside Peter on his bed… which would leave him feeling more embarrassed and awkward whenever she did so.

In the end, Peter couldn’t blame Jean for acting this way… he brought all of this on himself.

He made her like this, because of his questionable decisions in the past weeks.

Still, that didn’t mean his ‘house arrest’ was filled only with awkwardness and shame.

Peter would find out from her three days after returning to Earth that Aunt May was gone, as well as Elaine and Sara Grey. He needed a full day to recover from that information, and another one to help comfort Jean after being reminded again that her family was gone.

From that day onward, Peter felt more thankful that he wasn’t alone.

He would have been in a worse place mentally if he was all alone, without his two friends, and that is even if the Avengers were here for him.

On the 23rd day after the Thanos dilemma, Ned came to them with news that the remaining Avengers were going after the Mad Titan at the planet where they located him. It turned out that he had used the Stones again for some reason, and it was their chance to undo what Thanos had done.

After Ned left the room, Peter turned to his companion with one single plea.

“Jean, I have to go with them.”

The girl folded her arms and shook her head firmly, as though she was already expecting him to say that.

“No. You’re not leaving.”

“Jean, you know that—”

“Peter, you were just in space for two weeks where you almost died. Now you’re telling me you want to go back up there?”

“Spider-Man has to help… I have to, for all the people who got dusted and that includes May and your—”

“You are not leaving this place, Peter Parker. Do you hear me?” she snapped back at him. “Your ass is staying here. I don’t give a damn if you’re Spider-Man, got that?!”

“I won’t be all alone, I’ll be with—”

“YOU’RE STAYING HERE!”

Jean slammed both hands down on his bed and stared directly into his eyes, as if she was daring him to disagree with her any further. Fortunately, he didn’t say anything further but Peter looked at her in shock, completely taken aback by the sudden change in her tone.

After noticing his expression, Jean realized what she had just done, causing her to take a deep breath to calm herself.

“I thought you were dead…”

She took off her shoes and joined him on the bed, sitting right next to him.

“There was a part of me that thought you might have been dead already… when you didn’t come back.”

Jean leaned her head against his chest, while she poured out her deepest feelings. Peter instinctively began patting her back to encourage her to continue, all while the guilt kept eating away at him.

“You told me… you told me that you were going to come back… but I thought you were gone for good. I was so worried…”

Jean slowly looked up, her eyes glistening with tears while she sniffled a few times.

“I’m sorry. I know you want to help… and I want my family to come back more than anything… but I can’t lose you too. I don’t want you to give your life for this, Peter… that’s all. Why can’t you understand that…?”

Peter’s eyes shook with emotion, and he actually struggled to find the right words to say to her.

“I do understand, Jean… it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“If there’s any way for me to help bring back your family, then I should at least try and help. I know how much you love them, and I don’t want to see you like this anymore.”

“Then stop thinking of risking your life, Peter. Haven't you done enough already?”

“I don’t know if I have it in me to just sit in the sidelines while everyone else is doing their best, Jean. I may not be able to forgive myself if I did…”

“What happened to my mom and sister isn’t your fault, Peter. You don’t have to do anything, because I just need you to be here!”

She grabbed onto his shirt and held it tightly in her grasp, a clear sign of how much she didn’t want him to go. She would rather go with Peter instead of having to watch him leave again, even if he was completely against—

“...okay.”

Jean looked up at him again, her eyes wide and teary while thinking of whether or not she heard him correctly.

“What…?”

“You win. I won’t leave.”

A huge sigh of relief left her mouth, and she snuggled into his chest. Peter could feel her full weight leaning against him now, but he didn’t care as long as she’d feel completely secure.

“Everyone’s gone, Peter… you’re the only one I have left. I don’t want to lose you too. I can’t lose you too.”

“Forgetting about Ned?”

A dry chuckle came out of her mouth.

“He’s a good friend but you know that he’s not you, webhead.”

“I know. I’m not sure what I would have done if you disappeared too, even if I was somewhat expecting it when I got back to Earth…”

“I should be the one to say that. Why did you have to go to space?”

“You know why.”

She looked up at Peter and grabbed his face, bringing him closer to hers as she stared directly into his eyes. Jean refused to let him look anywhere else, but it’s almost like she was daring him to.

“Never again, you hear me? I know you weren’t dusted, but every passing day you weren’t here, it damn well felt like you did. So don’t you ever disappear on me again, Parker. Got that?”

There was a flicker of shame on his face, reminding himself of what he did before.

“I won’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise…” he leaned closer to her, so much that their noses were touching. “I promise I won’t disappear again, Jean. I’ll be with you.”

And with that, their lips connected.

The kiss was brief and it didn’t last more than five seconds. But the emotions they felt were conveyed and poured into the gesture.

After separating, they were completely silent and simply stared into each other's eyes.

Peter held her face in his hands, stroking her soft cheeks and taking in this moment for what it was. Jean did the same but took it a step farther; she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back for another kiss, which he accepted without hesitation.

Jean made things more intense, kissing this boy for all he was worth. She kissed him as if today was their last day in this world, and Peter couldn’t help but reciprocate the energy.

This kiss was considerably longer, and both were left out of breath afterwards. Peter couldn’t help but smile in amusement, because that was definitely a kiss to remember.

“Something tells me you’ve been waiting for that to happen.”

“Oh, I was going to do that during the field trip.”

“You were…?”

“I was, but then you left before we could even get to the museum because your nerdy ass decided it’s more important to fight aliens than making a girl happy,” she snarked.

“You’re really going to keep rubbing that in, aren’t you?” he hung his head in shame.

“Until I’m sure that you actually learned your lesson, Parker.”

“Come on, I admit that I can be stubborn and I might break a few rules here and there, but I know how to suck it up and just do as I’m told.”

“I just want to be sure of how important I actually am to you. You’re mine now, and if you’re going to be my boyfriend, I should at least know if you’re going to take this seriously.”

“You’ve been important to me even before today, Jean. Remember when we went to homecoming? I didn’t ask you out because you were my friend. I asked you out because I liked you. Of course I’m taking this seriously.”

“Well, I said yes to that because I really liked you too.”

Peter blinked a few times in surprise. He honestly didn’t expect that straightforward confession to come from her.

“Wow, uh… I guess I made the right decision that day.”

“You sure did, tiger.”

Showing off a beautiful smile, Jean hugged him like a loving wife and remained that way for a good minute… before being reminded of something that she should have done by now.

“Oh shi—!” she nearly cursed out loud, which quickly got Peter’s attention. “I-I remembered just now. I… wanted to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“Promise me you won’t freak out?”

“Jean, I dress up in a spider costume to fight crime. I’m not going to freak out.”

Hearing those words gave her complete reassurance. Of course Peter wouldn’t judge her or be afraid of what she can do. He’s just not that kind of person, and it would take a lot more than this to freak him out.

With that, Jean turned her attention to the door and reached out with her arm, as if she was holding the doorknob from afar. She closed her eyes and focused hard, before emulating the action of a person opening a door. 

The door opened, with no one on the other side. Jean moved her arm a few times, with the door following along like a shadow. When she took a glance at Peter’s expression, he was both dumbfounded and confused because there was no one here but them.

In one big swipe, the door was slammed shut with a loud bang, one that would likely be heard by everyone else if they had not left the compound yet.

“Woah…” Peter breathed out in amazement, before slowly looking down at the girl he was holding. “Did… Did you just… Did you just open the door then close it?”

“Yep…”

As another show of her power, Jean’s gaze locked on Peter’s Spider-Man mask, and made it float in the air. She moved her arm around along with it a few times before placing it back down on top of his suit.

With that, Jean turned her attention back to Peter and waited for him to say something…

“Wow… y-you… you have… you have telekinetic powers. How…?”

“More or less, after the Thanos thing. I went home and noticed that Mom and Sara were dusted away, and I was the only one there. When it dawned on me that I was all alone and I didn’t have my family left… I ended up throwing a vase into the wall with my mind.”

Peter bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from making a comment about how cool that sounded… for obvious reasons.

“Do you think you can control it?”

Jean shrugged.

“I think so? I made a teacup float towards me while I was showing this to Ned, but I had to focus on it hard enough. It happens more naturally when I’m feeling a strong emotion… like the times I got angry and cried in the past few days.”

Peter quickly racked his brain for a different question, just to steer the conversation elsewhere before she could keep on reminiscing about a sad memory.

“Jean, do you know what this means?”

“What?”

He opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something… but nothing came out at first. He thought harder about what to tell her, preferably something 

“Y-You’re like a Jedi who can use the Force.”

…

…

…

“Pfft—! Hahahahaha…!” she slapped his shoulder before descending in a fit of giggles. “Of course you’d think of it like that, you nerd!”

Peter gave a chuckle of his own, and suddenly remembered something that happened to him up there in space. He still had no clue how it all happened, but he should at least Jean know… before she could find out from someone else.

“I have to tell you something too. It’s about… what happened to me in space.”

“You were living the dream as a Star Wars fan?”

“I wish I could say that, but no. While I was up there… I… was actually one of the people that got dusted by Thanos.”

The smile that was on Jean’s face disappeared in an instant, and her expression gave way to one that showed horror and disbelief.

She looked up at him, completely silent but her emotions told the entire story. Her eyes seemed like they were going to burst into tears again, even now when she finally had Peter back and he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I wasn’t supposed to live… in fact, I felt that I was one of the people who was gonna disappear, but I wasn’t. Somehow, I lived. When I realized that I was back to normal, Mr. Stark was already hugging me. I tried asking him how I came back to life when we were in the spaceship, but he wouldn’t give me an answer. I understood why he didn’t want to talk about it, so I talked to Nebula instead. The cyborg-woman we were with, remember her?”

Jean continued to say nothing, only nodding in response while tightening the grip she had on his arm and body.

“She said, and I quote, ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes. I watched you turn to dust, only to return as you were. The Stones wanted you to disappear, so how are you more powerful than the might of the Stones?’ I didn’t know what to answer her, so I just said I was confused as she was.”

Peter noticed that there was no response from Jean for quite a while now. She was so quiet that it began to worry him, and now he was wondering if it was even the right move to tell her about it.

“Anyway, I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know about everything because I didn’t want—”

He was cut off when Jean hugged him tighter, to the point that it made him uncomfortable. She relaxed in her grip though, and proceeded to simply bury her face into his chest and cry.

“I said earlier, I’ll say it again. You’re not leaving my sight, you hear me? You’re never leaving my sight again.”

“Jean, I—”

“Don’t say anything. Just shut up and hug your girl, will you?”

He happily obliged, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head.

Peter didn’t know what life had in store for him from here, whether or not the Avengers will succeed in finally defeating Thanos, or if things will ever go back to normal, but he was sure of one thing.

He was glad to face this journey ahead with Jean by his side.