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Chapter Text

Peter couldn’t have been more excited about his first day of freshman year. He was not only starting his first year of high school, but also starting it at Midtown School of Science and Technology! Over the summer between 8th and 9th grade, Peter applied for one of the scholarships that Midtown offers for low-income students. Peter worked for hours on the application and probably reviewed each part a hundred times. He worked so hard because he had always wanted to attend Midtown because of its advanced science programs.

Which is why Peter anxiously awaited his letter for the entire three weeks it took to arrive. One day, his Uncle Ben brought the mail in with a huge smile on his face. Ben's smile only grew as he took a letter from the stack and handed it to Peter. Peter anxiously took the letter and sat down beside May on the couch. Ben then put the rest of the mail on the coffee table and sat down on Peter's other side. 

Peter looked down at the letter in his hands before worriedly asking, “What if I didn’t get in, guys?” Ben smiled at Peter and then gave him a couple of gentle pats on the back.

“I’m positive you got in, Peter, you’re the smartest kid I know,” Ben assured him.

“They would be fools not to accept you.” May agreed as she reached over and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. 

Peter took a shaky breath before ripping the envelope open. He spent a couple of seconds quickly scanning the letter before leaping up with a huge smile.

“I got the scholarship, I'm going to Midtown!” Petter exclaimed while grinning brightly and jumping up and down like an excited puppy. May and Ben jumped up and wrapped him in a huge hug while congratulating him. After they untangled themselves from the hug, Ben stepped back and declared, “This is a cause for celebration!”

When May and Ben took him out to celebrate that night, they went to some of Peter's favorite places. First, they went to Mr. Delmar’s (where Peter got his favorite sandwich), then they went to Flavors Assemble (where they got ice cream and hot chocolate). Then the three of them went back to their apartment, where they built a pillow fort in the living room and had a Star Wars marathon. That day had been one of the best days of Peter's life, not even Parker luck had interfered. 

Peter smiles to himself as he walks up Midtown’s stairs, recalling how much fun they had that day. When he walks into school, the first thing he notices is how busy everything is, swarms of students move in and out of hallways looking for classes while teachers yell at them to respect the school’s rules. Peter looks around before he heads toward the cafeteria while doing his best to avoid crashing into anyone. By some miracle, he makes it to the cafeteria without Parker luck striking. As he walks through the cafeteria doors, he grabs a tray and approaches the lunch lady, who has a name tag that reads “Miss Honey”. 

“What would you like today?” she asks as he stops in front of her.

 “Can I have two pancakes, please?” He asks politely with a smile. 

“Of course," Miss Honey replies. She hands Peter his tray back with a smile and a cheerful “Have a great day!”

“Thank you, ma'am. I hope you have a wonderful day.” He replies, grinning brightly.

Peter turns toward the lunch tables and starts walking toward an empty table, only for the universe to immediately decide his day had been too good. Peter crashes into a short Filipino boy with black hair and brown eyes, wearing a dark blue jacket and jeans. He and the boy both stumble back.  Peter somehow manages not to drop his breakfast as he falls. The other boy quickly sticks his hand out to help Peter and apologizes. Peter grabs his hand and pulls himself up. He smiles and waves the boy off when he regains his footing.

“It wasn't your fault; I should have been paying more attention to where I was going. I'm sorry for crashing into you. Are you okay?” Peter asks.

The boy shakes his head, “I'm fine, are you okay?” he asks, and then continues, “No, it was my fault, I was distracted.”

“I'm perfectly fine, and I am certain it was my fault. My bad luck always has me crashing into people.” Peter replies. The boy looks like he is going to deny that again until he gets distracted by Peter's shirt, which features Darth Vader holding an open book with the title How to Survive High School. “Do you like Star Wars?” the boy excitedly asks.

“I love Star Wars, how about you?” Peter grins.

The boy gives a bright grin, “Are you kidding? Star Wars is my favorite movie series.”

Peter points over to the empty table he had been walking to. “You want to join me for breakfast and discuss the movies?” Peter questions.

“Of course,” the boy happily says. While they walk toward the table together, Peter realizes that he hasn't introduced himself yet.

“I'm Peter Parker.” He says, holding out his hand.

“I'm Ned Leeds." The b-Ned says. 

Chapter Text

Having a friend like Ned made school ten times better. After their first meeting, they had become inseparable. They hit it off by talking about Star Wars at breakfast on the first day of school. Afterward, Peter and Ned were both incredibly excited to see that they had homeroom together. During homeroom, Peter suggested that they compare their schedules. They only shared two more classes throughout the day, chemistry and gym, but on the bright side, they had lunch together. 

The first day passed quickly, with Peter and Ned talking about Star Wars at every free moment during homeroom. When they met back up for gym 5th period, they talked about heroes. They joked about Captain America and the Hulk during the rope climb, debating who they thought could climb faster, and if the Hulk would climb the rope or just pull it down from the roof. By the end of the day, the two had become friends, and when Peter asked Ned if he wanted to come over and help him build his Lego Millennium Falcon, their status as best friends was sealed. 

High school was an entirely different world from what Peter had thought it would be. For one thing, the classes were challenging, whereas all of Peter's middle school classes were so easy that he finished his work in the first 30 minutes of class, and then spent the rest of class reading or studying biochemistry. However, the best thing about high school was that Peter wasn't the smartest kid in class anymore! Everyone was around the same level. So when he finished his work, he wasn't glared at or looked down on because there were always classmates who finished soon after him or sometimes even before him. Having peers who shared his intellect allowed Peter to discuss his ideas before presenting them to a teacher. It also meant that Peter was no longer expected to complete the entire group project by himself. (The first time he had been assigned a group project, he was partnered with Ned and a girl named Betty Brant, and Peter had almost cried from happiness when they divided the work equally and had turned their project in two days early.) The teachers and staff were also a pleasant surprise. The teachers were never taken aback or annoyed when he asked questions. They also appreciated him turning in his work early and studying ahead, instead of calling him a suck-up or a know-it-all. (He still can't believe that Mrs. Trunchbull had the nerve to say that to May's face. May had shocked the teacher with a verbal lashing so vicious that Mrs. Trunchbull had decided that parent-teacher conferences were no longer necessary for Peter.)

Peter loves Midtown. Everything was looking up. Parker luck had been mostly silent, only making him miss the bus three times (once because a dog stole his shoe and twice because of broken alarm clocks), which should have warned him that something big was about to happen. Peter didn't suspect anything because of how much fun he was having after joining the Midtown academic decathlon team. So to say Peter is surprised when he is sitting in third-period English and a massive earthquake rocks New York would be an understatement. The lights flicker and the building shakes for almost 30 seconds before the ground stops shaking. Immediately after the earthquake, thunder rumbles so loudly it seems to shake the building again. The intercom comes on with a screech.

“Everyone, remain calm. Please make your way to the storm shelter in an orderly fashion.” Principal Morita announces in an authoritative but slightly strained voice.

Peter crawls out from under his desk and stands up with the rest of his classmates to start making his way to the storm shelter attached to the gym. The walk to the storm shelter was quiet, only broken up by the panicked whispers of students in the hall. As Peter walked by a window, he looked out and nearly stopped in shock. It was 11:00 am, yet it looked like the sun had decided to take a half-day. When they arrive at the storm shelter, Principal Morita and some of the school’s security guards divide the students into four separate rooms by grade. They walk down a small hallway to get to the freshman shelter and then stop right outside of the reinforced door so that Peter’s teacher, Mrs. Chase, can call attendance. After Mrs. Chase calls the roll, she tells everyone to go find a seat.

As he walks in, Peter looks around and then hurries over to Ned and sits beside him. Peter scans the storm shelter carefully. The storm shelter is a large steel structure with reinforced concrete floors and no windows; large steel benches are evenly placed and bolted into the floor. Along the wall to Peter’s right sit cases of bottled water and boxes of nonperishable foods secured to wooden pallets. The wall in front of Peter has a large TV bolted to it. On each side of the TV, there are metal shelves secured to the wall. The right shelf has several walkie-talkies, a couple of Midline emergency radios, and various other types of radios. The left is stacked with boxes of flashlights. The wall to Peter’s left has two doors, one marked supplies and the other marked restroom. The wall behind Peter has a reinforced entrance and exit door, along with more metal shelving attached to the wall; however, these shelves are full of blankets and pillows. Large white Strips of LED lights run diagonally along the ceiling.

Peter turns to Ned after he has finished his evaluation of the room. “Do you have any idea what's happening he asks Ned nervously.

“I don't know, but whatever happened was bad enough that it knocked out almost all of New York's Power.  I overheard Principal Morita telling the security guards that the generator had kicked in after the last power flicker and that when he checked the news, it said almost 90% of New York was currently in a blackout.” Ned replies, while looking concerned. 

Peter frowns at this new information before asking, “ Do you think that the earthquake caused an explosion at a power plant or something?”

“Maybe,” Ned replies, “ An explosion would explain the horrendously loud thunder clap sound and why it’s so dark, could be smoke blocking the sun.”

“Yeah,” Peter says. He and Ned then fall into a nervous silence that matches the rest of the room, which is only broken when the teachers and Principal Morita close and lock the door. Principal Morita then slowly walks to the front of the room and stands in front of the TV.

“I’m sure you all are worrying about what's happening, which is why I’m staying here with my youngest group of tigers,” Morita begins, but before he can continue, he is interrupted.

A girl with red curly hair jumps up and asks, “What's happening? Are we in danger?”

“ Was that loud boom an explosion?” a boy with black hair asks. “ Why is it so dark outside? “ Are we going to evacuate like Manhattan and those other cities?” What's happening in Manhattan? People start asking one after the other, so many are yelling out, trying to get answers that Peter can no longer tell who is talking anymore. Principal Morita silences everyone with a wave of his hand.

“Everyone, calm down so I can explain what's happening,” Morita says. Then he takes a deep breath as if to steel his resolve and starts talking. “I need to understand that what I’m about to tell you is NOT a joke as much as I wish it was,” Morita says seriously, before looking around at all the students' worried faces and receiving several nods of understanding. “ First, everyone needs to remain calm. The information you are about to receive is very shocking, but there is no reason to panic. We are currently not in any danger because the threat is contained to Manhattan by the Army, the city's police, the National Guard, and a special task force. If, however, the threat manages to leave the city's borders, then we will immediately evacuate. He takes a deep breath before he solemnly continues, “ A portal has opened above Stark Tower in Manhattan, and a currently unknown race has begun to invade Earth. Their motives are unknown, but they have caused severe damage to Manhattan. The room is overcome with shocked gasps and horrified whispers as Peter’s head spins, trying to accept what he just heard. After everyone quiets down, Principal Morita continues, “ You all are old enough to make your own decisions, and while you might see some things no kid should ever see, you all have the right to remain informed. The news is currently covering the ongoing battle in Manhattan, and I am going to let you all decide whether or not to watch it, so raise your hand if you would like to watch the ongoing battle. When a majority of the students raise their hands, Principal Morita reaches up and turns on the TV. “If you don’t want to watch the battle, we have some noise-cancelling headphones you can borrow, and feel free to grab a blanket or pillow if you need to. 

Principal Morita then takes a seat at the back of the room with the teachers. The newscasters both look incredibly nervous as they discuss what is unfolding on the screen behind them. The entire freshman class goes silent as they take in the devastation in Manhattan. The screen shows the city in ruins. A blue beam is shooting up from the roof of Stark Tower (which is currently missing the “A” from the STARK sign) into a giant swirling blue and black portal in the sky. The portal is spewing out mechanical-looking aliens on hoverboards and flying chariots and what appears to be giant mechanical flying whales. The streets of Manhattan are littered with destruction; destroyed cars fill the streets, some on fire, others on their tops or their sides, broken glass is everywhere, large potholes litter the pavement and sidewalks, and buildings in various states of collapse. Peter turns to carefully study his classmates; most are as shocked as he felt, and some are downright terrified. Peter turns his attention back to the TV as Iron Man flies across the screen, blasting aliens out of the sky, the Hulk is jumping from building to building and pulling the aliens that were climbing them off and throwing them to the ground, while also destroying any of the whale things that get too close to him. Captain America and black Widow are fighting the alien soldiers in the middle of a ruined street and destroying them left and right. Thor is standing atop a tower, frying the otherworldly foes as soon as they come through the portal.

“I didn’t know that the heroes worked together.” Ned leans over to Peter and whispers.

“Me neither,” Peter replies in a whisper.

The boys continue to watch the battle with bated breath, silently cheering with each other when the heroes defeat one of the angry ETs and sharing worried glances when the heroes take a particularly bad hit. As time goes by, the aliens start to pour out of the portal faster. About 5 minutes in, the heroes start to become overwhelmed. Soon after, Black Widow disappears from the battlefield, and Thor and Hulk are cornered and fighting against nearly a hundred invasive C3PO rip-offs each. Iron Man got knocked out of the sky after taking out the worst Whalmer look-alike to ever exist and is still desperately fighting to get back up, and Captain America lost his mask and is now fighting with a limp and favoring one leg. 

Suddenly, one of the newscasters speaks up, shocking everyone, “ The United States National Guard has issued a Stay in Place order to all of New York. No one is allowed to be out on the streets unless they have an emergency, are a part of an emergency service, or are a citizen of Manhattan who is evacuating the city,” he says, trying and failing to force a neutral tone. 

Peter’s classmates start to worriedly murmur as soon as the announcement is over. It’s clear that now the situation is dire because the fearsome foes have almost completely overwhelmed the heroes. Peter feels his fear slowly grow every time one of the heroes takes a hit, which is becoming more frequent every minute the battle drags on. 

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Suddenly, a tall boy with black hair and green eyes falls from his chair. Several people are startled and jump up with gasps. Several teachers and Principal Morita jump up and run over to help the boy, who is currently sitting on the floor, shaking and gasping for breath. Peter realizes with a start that the boy is having a panic attack. The adults surrounding him don’t know how to help because they are all crowded around him, asking him what's wrong and if he is okay. Peter pushes down his fear and jumps into action. Peter walks over to where the teachers and Principal Morita are gathered around the boy and then squeezes in between two teachers so he can stand between the teachers and the panicking boy. 

You all need to get back and give him some space; crowding him will only make it worse.” Peter states firmly, then continues, “ You all need to take a couple of steps back; crowding around someone who is having a panic attack will only make them panic more.” 

Many of the teachers look at Peter, shocked, while some seem impressed with Peter's words. Principal Morita is staring at him with an odd mixture of both painted across his face. After a brief pause, the teachers and Morita all listen and take several steps back. After Peter has decided that they are a good enough distance away to give the boy space, he slowly turns to the boy, then slowly crouches down a short distance away from him. Peter then slowly raises his hands in front of him so that the boy can see them. Peter’s mind races to remember the exercises to calm down that his therapist taught him after his parents died. 

“Hi, I’m Peter Parker, a current freshman student at Midtown. We are currently safe in Midtown’s storm shelter,” Peter says gently. The boy doesn’t react, and he is looking a little blue around the lips, and he is wavering in place like he is about to pass out. “You're safe, everything is going to be okay, we are currently in the freshman storm shelter at Midtown,” Peter says gently before continuing, “ But we need to get your breathing under control. I am going to take some deep breaths, I need you to try to copy me”. Peter starts taking deep breaths, counting out loud while he breaths in for a count of four and out for a count of four, only pausing to periodically reassure the boy that he was safe. After a couple of minutes of the deep breathing exercise, the boy has his breathing under control and only seems a little bit spaced out. Since the boy seems mostly aware now, Peter decides to move on to the next step.

Can you tell me five things that you can see?” Peter asks gently. The boy shakes his head.” Okay, that's fine, I can go first,” Peter says softly. “ I can see my best friend standing over there (while pointing at Ned), the TV, a bunch of radios, your awesome red hoodie, and the amazing designs on your sneakers. Now your turn,” Peter says gently with a smile.

“I-I can see you, Principal Morita, the ‘hang in there’ cat poster, a-a bench, and u-um um, the blankets on the back wall.” The boy stammers, sounding unsure.

“I can feel my glasses, the itchy tag of my shirt, my belt buckle, and my shoes,” Peter says softly, “ Can you tell me four things that you can feel? 

“I feel the cold floor, my hoodie, my hair, and my watch.” The boy answers slightly more confidently.

“Okay, now can you tell me three things that you can hear?” Peter questions. 

“The TV, my heartbeat, and your voice,” The boy says. 

“ Now, can you tell me two things that you can smell?” Peter asks.

“Um, flowers and… popcorn?” The boy says, sounding unsure. 

“Now, one thing that you can taste,” Peter instructs.

“Mint gum.” The boy says. He still appears to be slightly disoriented, but he is now conscious and aware of his surroundings. 

“As I told you earlier, my name is Peter. What's your name? Peter inquires. 

I’m Tim!

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Peter gives the boy a soft smile and reaches his hand out to help him up. The boy takes his hand and stands up, allowing Peter to escort him to his seat.

“Do you need some water?” 

“No, I’m good,” The boy says with a shake of his head, “Thanks… for helping me, Peter.”

“No problem, Tim,” Peter replies with a smile.

Peter turns around and starts walking back to his seat after double-checking and then triple-checking that Tim is okay. As Peter is walking back to his seat, he looks around at his classmates and realizes that everyone is just as terrified as he is. Prompted into action, Peter starts thinking of a plan. The best way Peter knows to calm people down is to distract them from the cause of their fear, and what better way to distract a bunch of insanely smart teens who love STEM than a STEM-related trivia game? With that in mind, Peter stops at his seat and makes sure there is a candy bar in it before turning to Ned.. 

“Ned, this is probably going to seem really weird, but I have an idea and I need you to play along,” Peter whispers. 

“Of course, what are we doing?” Ned asks with a slightly hesitant smile.

“You’ll see,” Peter says with a small reassuring smile. Peter then turns away from Ned with a small wave and walks toward the front of the room. When Peter reaches the front of the room, he turns to his classmates and then pulls up a trivia game on FizzicsEducation.com on his phone. Peter takes several steady breaths to gather his nerves and calm his anxiety.

Then, with a smile, he says, “Okay, everyone, we're going to play a trivia game. If you know the answer, just say it out loud. The first person to get the question correct gets a point, and the person with the most points at the end of the game wins this chocolate bar. (Peter pulls the chocolate bar out of his pocket and holds it up for everyone to see for a few seconds before putting it back in his pocket.) “Now, does anyone have any questions before we start the game?”Peter asks while scanning the room. When no one asks any questions or raises any objections after a few minutes, he starts the game. 

“What is the name of the first synthetic element created in a laboratory?” Peter asks.

After a small pause, Ned answers “Technetium”.

“Correct, one point,” Peter says before continuing, “What type of organism makes up the oldest known fossil, and how old is it?”

A minute of silence before Principal Morita answers, “South Africa's blue-green algae, it's 3.2 billion years old.”

“Correct, one point. The Mars rover, Perseverance, uses what as its source of electrical power?” Peter asks.

"The Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator,” which converts heat generated from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity, a girl with pink and purple dyed hair answers hesitantly after about 30 seconds of silence.

“Correct, one point, what is the scientific name of the material commonly called 'fool’s gold'?” Peter asks.

“Iron pyrite crystals,” a boy with black hair says hesitantly.

“Correct, one point. What is the collective name for animals and plants that live on the bottom of a lake?​​​​​​​” Peter asks.

“Benthic,” Someone says, slightly hesitant. “ 

Close but incorrect,” Peter replies. 

“Benthos,” Someone else says. 

“Correct, one point,” Peter says with a smile. People are starting to relax, and even the teachers look less tense than when Peter first started the game. It's time to start getting people more engaged,  and how do you get STEM students more engaged? Simple, you just up the odds.

“Alright, moving on to the two-point questions,” Peter announces. “What Latin word does the word ‘engineer’ come from?”

“It comes from the word ‘ingeniare’.” Someone answers slightly confidently.

“Correct, two points,” Peter says.

Morita

Morita smiles as he watches normally shy and quiet Peter Parker walk over and take control of an emergency situation to help one of his classmates, one that he probably doesn't know. He can't say he isn't shocked. Don't get him wrong, Peter is an incredibly kind, dedicated student, but he is also the type of person to apologize to a waiter who got his order wrong for having made his order too hard to remember. So seeing Peter not ask but tell several teachers what to do was surprising, to say the least. Morita wishes it were just as shocking to learn that Peter knew how to calm someone down from a panic attack. Morita is impressed that Peter remained calm and polite the entire time he was helping the boy (Morita thinks his name is Drake). After Peter helps Drake(?) get seated, he shocks Morita again. He walks up to the front of the room (looking slightly nervous), pauses, looks at his phone for a couple of minutes, and then announces that he is going to start a trivia game. Morita is confused until the realization that Peter is trying to distract and comfort his classmates hits him like a brick. Morita always knew that Peter was a good kid, but seeing him step out of his comfort zone to help his classmates shows him that Peter isn't only a good kid, he is a great one.

When Peter asks the first question, nobody answers for a few minutes before Ned Leeds speaks up.. Of course, Ned would be the first one to participate and support Peter; they had become thick as thieves since the first day of school. Where one goes, the other follows, if they weren't going to the same place anyway. Peter cuts Morita off from his line of thinking by asking his second question. Nobody answers him for a minute or so. Ned looks like he wants to, but he also seems nervous. (Morita believes he isn’t sure about his answer and doesn’t want to get it wrong.) So Morita decides to answer to further help put the students at ease. Peter sends him a grateful smile and then continues. 

Morita watches the students and teachers alike relax as they get invested in the game. It starts to get truly heated when Peter introduces the 5-point questions, through by that time, no one is looking at the news, not even the teachers. Morita takes out his phone and messages some of the teachers in the other sections of the shelter to start a game to distract the students if they start panicking. As the game continues, Peter steadily increases the point value of the questions, keeping people invested in the game by upping the competitive spirit. While everyone's attention is on Peter, he walks over and turns off the TV. Peter sends him a quick grateful smile a few seconds later.

The trivia continues, and at some point, the questions change from scientific concepts to memes and movie references. Morita answers a few questions, and so do several teachers (it seems to make the students even more invested in the game when he or a teacher gets an answer right). Morita tries to keep track of who's winning, but at some point, questions and answers are flying so fast he can't even hear what's being said.

 Four hours after the invasion began, a message goes out telling people that they are now able to leave their shelters and drive on the streets; all areas except for Manhattan are open with minimal damage. Manhattan has been declared a disaster zone, and the only people allowed in are emergency services, with the New Yorkers there being evacuated to shelters and hospitals in neighboring cities. Morita texts the teachers to start contacting students’ guardians to come pick them up, but wait until at least a few of the guardians are outside to tell the students. About 10 minutes later, Morita gets a text that says a decent number of the students’ guardians have arrived and are waiting outside.  Morita makes his way to the front of the room and waits until Peter asks his latest question and gets an answer to step up beside him.

“Hey, Peter, do you mind if I make an announcement?” Morita asks politely.

“Of course not, Mr. Morita, sir,” Peter replies, stepping to the side.

Morita steps forward and addresses the room. “ The stay-in-place order has been lifted and your guardians are coming to pick you up,” he pauses as students cry out in relief and joy “your name will be called by your homeroom when they arrive, some of them have already arrived so your homeroom teachers will call your name and escort you out to them shortly,” Morita says, he then looks down at Peter and asks  “Do you have a grand final question that you want to ask?” 

“Yeah, I need just a second, Mr. Morita,” Peter says. Peter runs over to Ned, who has pulled a candy bar out of Peter's backpack, and takes the candy bar from him. Peter then runs back up to stand beside him. “ Final question, everyone, for 20 points, what company makes this candy bar?” Peter asks excitedly.  

“Hershey!' 'Many voices exclaim at the same time.

 Peter looks up at Morita. “So, who won, Mr. Morita?” Peter asks. Morita thinks for a minute about who answered the most questions correctly.

“Abe Brown.” Morita declares. Abe grins as he gets up from his chair. Several students clap while he walks toward Peter, who smiles back at him and hands him the candy bar.

 “Good job, Abe,” Peter says brightly. 

“Thanks, Peter, that was a fun game,” Abe responds with a smile. Abe shakes Peter's hand and then returns to his seat. Morita signals for the teachers to start calling students for dismissal, and then points down at Peter to let the teachers know that he will be walking Peter out to his aunt and uncle. The teachers nod and then start calling students. “Peter, your aunt and uncle are here to pick you up,” Morita informs Peter, and then waves for Peter to follow him and starts walking toward the door. Peter suddenly jolts, takes a few steps, and then quickens his pace to catch up with Morita, adjusting his pace to walk beside him.

“Mr. Morita, I'm not in trouble, am I?” Peter nervously asks once they are out in the hallway, “I know that telling the teachers what to do was disrespectful and I shouldn't have started a game without asking first, but that boy was having a panic attack and everyone seemed scared so I decided that giving everyone a distraction was a good idea and…” Peter rambles nervously until Morita cuts him off.

 “Peter, it's okay, you're not in trouble, far from it actually,” Morita reassures gently. 

They walk out of the building and over to the old beat-up car that the Parkers drive. Despite his reassurance, Peter still looks nervous. Morita smiles as they arrive at the Parkers’ car. May and Ben quickly climb out of the car and pull Peter into a tight group hug.

 “How are you doing, Peter? We know that all of this must be terrifying.” May asks, pulling back a little and scrunching her face up in concern. 

“I'm fine, May.” Peter insists.

“Peter, we both know you're brave. But it’s okay to be scared, especially after everything that has happened today.” Ben reminds him gently.

“Ben, I'm…” Peter starts.

Morita interjects in a proud tone, “You have no idea how brave Peter was today. He helped a classmate through a panic attack and conducted a trivia game to help all of us calm down during the battle of Manhattan, which in turn prevented his classmates from seeing the worst of the battle.”

May and Ben both seem shocked for a minute before looking proudly at their nephew, who looks sheepish.

“Peter… I'm so proud of you.” Ben praises.

“My little hero.” May gushes.

“I just wanted to tell you about the amazing things Peter did today and how amazed I am by all of it. I figured he would be too embarrassed to tell you himself.” Morita smiles. “Now, have a safe drive home, and Peter, what you did today was amazing; you should be proud. Never lose your courage to help others in their time of need; the world needs more people like you.” Morita smiled and waved before he turned and headed back inside the school.

The Parkers embrace and praise Peter once more before they all climb into the car to go home. Ben promises to take Peter out for ice cream at Flavors Assemble as soon as everything has calmed down. Peter smiles the entire ride home, happy about helping his classmates, not knowing that he had just permanently added Principal Morita to his web.

Chapter Text

Part 1.

Peter is stretched out across the couch in the living room watching the news. He was alone in the apartment since both May and Ben were busy helping those affected by the Chitauri Invasion, having been called in about 2 hours after the battle was over. May was working overtime at the hospital to help with the overflow of patients while Ben, as part of the police force, was helping rescue civilians who were trapped during the earthquake in Queens. The couple felt guilty and apologized profusely for leaving Peter alone but he assured his aunt and uncle that he would be fine and that they were needed, which he understood. May and Ben hugged Peter and told him to stay safe inside the apartment before leaving. Ever since then, Peter has been switching between Queens News and other NYC news channels to watch the clean-up and search & rescue efforts. Switching between channels has allowed Peter to see the different levels of damage across New York.

Manhattan suffered the worst because the (newly named) Avengers managed to contain the battle there. However, when the portal first opened above Stark Tower for the Chitauri to enter, it caused an earthquake that reached almost all of New York. Queen's proximity to Manhattan meant it sustained severe damage, though still nothing compared to the destruction in the main site of the Battle of New York. Whereas in Queens some buildings are missing walls or have collapsed rooftops, with the occasional building that completely collapsed, Manhattan has entire blocks of buildings that are completely collapsed. Most of New York is in varying states of ruin greater or less than Queens, except for the border areas that were barely affected by the earthquake. Due to the widespread damage across the state, especially in Manhattan, the National Guard is assisting the aid efforts. The cities less affected are sending some of their first responders to help in the more affected areas.

Peter is truly impressed with how New Yorkers are uniting to help each other. It makes him proud to be a New Yorker and makes him wish he could help. Peter feels kind of useless just sitting on the couch watching everyone else help. May and Ben are contributing in their respective ways, the National Guard and first responders have been helping since they arrived, and the Avengers not only fought off the invasion, but Captain America promised that as soon as the heroes were completely recovered, they would help with the clean-up efforts.

Despite Peter's wish to help, he doesn't know how he can help; first responders are trained for situations like these, and the Avengers are literal heroes while he is just a high school freshman. Peter respects the first responders so much for putting their lives on the line every day to help others, but he knew the Avengers were true heroes because they not only risked their lives to save the city (and likely the whole world), but they also fought literal aliens. It was both inspiring and terrifying watching the recording of the Avengers’ battle. There were a couple of moments that stood out to Peter the most: Iron Man flying a nuke through the portal to save Manhattan (and possibly most of New York; Peter isn't an expert but he's pretty sure that the nuke was big enough to completely erase Manhattan and probably Queens too from the map. And isn't that a terrifying thought - what would have happened if Iron Man hadn't redirected that bomb?), Hawkeye helping people escape from a half-crushed bus while using his bow to cover himself and the fleeing civilians, and Black Widow jumping onto one of the aliens' freaky oversized hoverboards, then knocking one of the occupants off before taking control and shooting at the enemy.

Peter sighs as he flips to Manhattan’s main news channel, which shows firefighters working to free people trapped in their cars after a bridge collapsed. The firefighters all look exhausted, which is understandable because they have been working tirelessly for about 13 hours now. As Peter watches, one of the firefighters stumbles and falls, Peter sits up sharply to get a better view as the man’s fellow firefighters rush over to help him up. They load the previously fallen firefighter into a firetruck which then leaves the screen. After a minute, a reporter comes on screen to announce that the firefighter will be okay, he is just experiencing a mild case of dehydration. The reporter then explains how a lot of first responders are struggling with the same problem since they don't have time to take breaks to cool down or eat and drink. The reporter then goes on to describe the other first responders’ actions but it falls into nothing more than distant murmuring to Peter, whose mind begins working in overdrive.

Peter smiles as an idea about how to help strikes him. He jumps up from the couch, runs into his room, and grabs a pen and notebook before rushing back to the couch. Peter pulls out his phone and starts researching. As he dives deeper, a plan starts to form. Peter jots ideas down and starts to outline a plan. After about an hour of research and planning, he is finished. Now all he has to do is get May and Ben's approval, then get in contact with Queens’ First Responders Foundation.

After finalizing his plan, Peter prepares dinner, wanting to surprise his aunt and uncle with a warm meal. As Peter moves around the kitchen, he mulls over his plan. Is it even possible? Will May and Ben think it's a good idea? Will people agree to help? Will this even be able to help? The oven timer buzzes, signaling that it is done preheating, snapping Peter out of his rapidly spiraling thoughts. He puts the pizzas he had been making into the oven, then pulls out his phone and sets a timer. While waiting for the pizzas, he flops down on the couch and is definitely not overthinking, not at all. Peter lays on the couch, continuing to watch the news, until the timer goes off. Peter takes the pizzas out of the oven to let them cool for a couple of minutes before cutting them into slices. While waiting for the pizzas to cool, he hears a knock at the door and then May walks in with a tired smile. Peter runs up to his aunt and tackles her into a hug. May hugs Peter back fiercely and kisses the top of his head.

"May, I made dinner,” Peter says excitedly.

“Thank you, honey. Just let me change out of my scrubs and then we'll sit down and eat.” May says tiredly. before rubbing her eyes and continuing, “Ben called me and told me that he won't be home for another couple of hours.”

May smiles tiredly at Peter once more before walking toward her and Ben's Bedroom.

After May leaves the living room Peter walks back into the kitchen to set the table and cut the Pizza into slices.

After May changes, she makes her way to the kitchen as she enters, she shoots Peter another tired smile. Peter smiles back at May before walking over and pulling out a chair for her and setting her plate down.

“Oh, Peter, I don't know what Ben and I would do without you; you are the sweetest, most helpful teenager,” May says proudly.
Peter simply smiles at May before taking his plate and sitting down.

After they finish eating, Peter takes their plates to the sink. May thanks him again before asking him, “ You've improved your cooking so much after just a couple of months of those classes; how fast are they moving through the material?”

“Oh, they aren't moving very fast in the class, but I have been watching some cool cooking videos on YouTube,” Peter replies.

He walks back to the table and sits down and then asks May if they can talk for a minute. May smiles and then responds” Of course sweetie, what does my favorite nephew want to talk about?”

“Well, I was watching the news today, and I noticed how much of a hard time the first responders were having during the clean-up and rescue efforts.” Peter began. “So I thought of a plan to help. Now, first responders don't have time to leave to eat or drink while they're on duty at disaster sites, so I thought it would be really helpful if they had portable packages of water, Gatorade, and high-protein snacks to allow them to quickly replenish energy and fluids. I was thinking of contacting the First Responders Foundation to get them to organize donation sites across New York because they are well connected to charities across the state, so they can collect and distribute the donations.” Peter explains rapidly.

“Woah, Peter…” May says, looking a bit overwhelmed, “From what I understood, that sounds like a great idea, but take a deep breath and tell me again. Just a bit slower, sweetie.” Peter takes a deep breath and explains his idea again. When he is finished, May hugs him.

“I'm so proud of you for wanting to help. When Ben gets home, we’ll call the foundation together to tell them your plan and see if we can get them to agree May says happily”

Peter was delighted.

That night, May, Ben, and Peter called Raine Whispers, the president of the First Responders Foundation. They spent about three hours talking to Raine about the benefits and drawbacks of Peter's plan, how they would work around the short time frame, and who they would get to run the donation booths. In the end, everyone was on board with Peter's plan. Raine would announce the donation drop-off location and time, along with what items are needed. They also planned to get in contact with other charity leaders across New York to set up similar events. Ben agreed to talk to Queens’ police commissioner to arrange for officers to pick up the donations and deliver them to different groups of first responders working across the city. While talking to Raine, Peter also texted Mr. Harrington about his plan and asked if the academic decathlon team would be able to manage the donation booth. Mr. Harrington said he would love to have that and if all of the team members agreed, he would gladly arrange for the students to meet up and run the booth.

Peter told Raine about this and Raine agreed to let Midtown's academic decathlon team run the Queens donation booth.