Chapter Text

It had been 29 days since Peter Parker had died.

But for the rest of the world it had been 29 days and 5 years.

It had also been 29 days since Peter Parker had come back to life.

But it had been 29 days since Tony Stark had died.

Numbers had always been comforting to Peter in a way. Numbers, sequences, series, formulas. They all provided him comfort, helped him stay grounded even if the world was out of control. Sometimes, when his senses got the better of him and things got a little too much he’d run through the sequence of pie or rattle off all the square numbers as high as he could go. But as each day passed Peter started to hate the counting. Each day put him one day further away from the last time he had seen Tony Stark.

Peter swung his legs off his twin bed and let his toes brush the ground. His shoulders were slack, and he kept his eyes trained on the floor, looking at the grooves in the wooden floorboards.

Almost 1 month.

It was the 1-month anniversary at the end of the week. How had the day come around so quickly?

"Peter?" Aunt May called from somewhere outside his door. "You gotta get up kiddo."

"Yeah, I'm up." Peter called back eventually, rubbing a hand over his face and blinking his eyes sleepily.

It was 8am. He'd need to hurry up if he wanted to get to school on time. Peter struggled into some jeans from the day before and pulled on a sweater. He grabbed his watch from where he had taken it off the night before and paused. It was next to the framed photo he had of him and Mr. Stark – proof, Tony had told him, for if he ever needed to prove that he did in fact have the internship. It just wasn’t what everyone thought it was, at least not completely. Tony had made them take a photo to make it all official. The actual document that was signed by Mr Stark was now somewhere hidden in his wardrobe.

Peter had turned the frame flat down on its face a few weeks ago. It was too difficult to look at Tony’s face every day. Everything that reminded him of Mr Stark had been removed from his room and Peter was grateful that May either hadn't noticed or had chosen not to say anything about the stack of articles and flyers of Iron Man that had ended up in the trash. Even the ones Peter himself had been in as Spider-Man had gone in the bin.

Peter sighed and turned away from his desk as he finished fastening his watch to his wrist. He stopped by the wardrobe mirror to comb his hair through once and grab his backpack from his desk before heading out into the kitchen.

"Toast?" May asked when she heard him coming into the kitchen.

"Yes please," Peter said setting his backpack at the foot of the bench and running to the bathroom.

"I told Pepper that you're going to go to the official vigil on Friday night." May said once Peter returned and she set the plate of toast in front of him.

"Ok." Peter said around his food and nodding.

"Peter…" May said from where she was standing on the other side of the kitchen, her back to him. "I've been thinking-"

"Sorry May, I gotta head off I'm gonna be late!" Peter said, his mouth full of half chewed up toast. He grabbed his bag, kicked his shoes on and was out the door before May could say another word. "Love you!" He called out as he brought the door closed behind him.

Peter knew what May wanted to talk about. He'd been avoiding the conversation for weeks. May thought he wasn't processing his grief properly. She thought he needed to start seeing someone. Not that Peter didn't want to. He just didn't think he needed to.

Peter was thinking about all of this as he dashed down the stairs and wasn't concentrating when his foot flew out from underneath him. Without skipping a beat, he flipped and landed on the balustrade of the stairwell scaring the crap out of one of the other tenants who was hurrying up the stairs.

"Morning." Peter said smiling sheepishly at the older lady as he got off the stair railing and she hurried past him, sticking as close to the wall as she could.

Just another dayPeter thought to himself as he took the stairs two at a time until he reached the exit of the stairwell and stepped out into the harsh light of the morning.

"So, do you think they'll finally get around to releasing the final Star Wars film now that J.J Abrams is alive again?" Ned asked from the desk to the right of Peter as they waited for Mr Harrington and the remainder of the students to file into the classroom.

"I guess so?" Peter said shrugging. "I still haven't had the chance to catch up on everything that happened in the last five years."

"Tell me about it." Ned said shaking his head. "Did you know they had to stop all these film franchises and tv shows because half the cast and crew were gone but somehow, they ended up bringing back the office because they were one of the only casts who hadn't been effected by the Snap?"

Peter shook his head in slight disbelief, "I… did not know that."

"Yeah crazy." Ned said shaking his head in amusement. "Well if it does get released, we have to get tickets."

"You bet." Peter said trying to force the enthusiasm into his voice, but he was sure it didn't come across as completely convincing. He wasn't sure he could think ahead far enough to the end of the year, he was just focusing on getting by one day at a time.

"Alright, alright." Mr Harrington said as he took his place in front of the board. "before we start with class, I have an important announcement."

A few excited whispers echoed throughout the classroom and Peter sat up a little straighter to hear what his teacher had to say.

"As you all know this Friday marks one month since the passing of Mr. Tony Stark -” Mr. Harrington made sure he punctuated each word for effect, as though everyone didn’t know who Mr. Stark was, “-as part of the commemoration ceremony they’ve invited three schools to attend a tour. It'll give you all a chance to familiarise yourself with Stark Industries to see if you might be interested in applying for an internship once you start college."

Peter wasn’t expecting the effect that even the mention of Mr. Stark would have on him, and his throat started to feel a little tight. Time seemed to slow down, and he could see Mr Harrington was still talking but none of the sound was reaching Peter's ears, or at least he wasn’t processing it. Instead it was like he had been thrown back in time. In his mind’s eye he was back at the wreckage of the Avengers compound standing by Mr. Stark as he… as he…

Peter's eyes were starting to sting, and he wasn't sure if it was from the memory of the smoke and dust or because he was actually going to cry.

"Mr Harrington could I please have a hall pass." He said raising his hand quickly, interrupting the teacher mid-sentence.

"Yes Mr Parker." Mr Harrington said curtly and picking the hall pass up from where it was sitting on his desk.

He cleared his throat ad began again, "As I was saying, at the end of the class you'll be able to collect your permission slip which I expect to be brought back to me no later than Wednesday morning. If you don't bring it in-"

Peter was out the door before Mr Harrington could say another word. He made a beeline for the nearest toilets but when he saw a group of students in sports clothes rounding the corner he stopped suddenly and walked in the other direction. His eyes were so full of tears he could barely see but thanks to his spidey senses he made it out of the school block without being seen by any other students.

The next thing Peter knew, he was up on the roof.

He wasn't entirely sure how he had got there. He'd stepped outside and then suddenly here he was, feet dangling off the side of the school building, looking out over the rooftops.

Once he had settled down Peter let the tears fall. He didn't try to stop them. Only when the sobs threatened to overwhelm him did he try to get a control of his emotions. Peter kept his eyes focused on the front of the school before him, focusing on anything that would take his mind off the harsh reminder that Mr Stark was gone.

Peter's eyes floated over number plates of the student and teacher cars down in the parking lot. He ran through numbers in his head, organising the cars by their first number or letter. He let his mind go and focus on the figures flashing before his eyes which gave his emotions a chance to subside. When his breath had reached a suitable level again and his heart wasn’t beating as fast, Peter stood up, walked to the edge of the roof and flipped, landing on the sidewalk next to the side of the main entrance. He ducked inside the front door before anyone could see

"You ok?" Ned asked once Peter finally made it back. The class had just finished, and students were packing their things up. Many people glanced at Peter as they left the classroom and he wandered whether he had something on his face or if he was wearing a sign that now said 'I'm emotionally damaged'. Either way, no one met his eyes. Everyone seemed to know something was up with him, even if Peter knew there was no way that they could know the whole truth.

"Yeah…" Peter said slowly, "I'm fine."

Ned didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. Instead he gave Peter a fond clap on the shoulder and went to wait outside whilst Peter collected the rest of his things.

"The hall pass Mr Harrington." Peter said holding the board out to his teacher who was now sitting behind the desk at the front of the classroom.

"Ah yes Mr. Parker." He said taking it and returning it to its spot. "Try not to miss any more classes like that, I know you’re smart, but attendance still matters."

"Yes sir." Peter said nodding reverently in agreement. May would not be happy if she heard he was skipping classes. Peter started edging towards the door hoping that that was all Mr. Harrington had to say to him.

"Forgetting something?" Mr Harrington said holding up a slip of paper.

"Sorry?" Peter said, feigning ignorance. He knew exactly what the piece of paper was.

"Your permission slip for Friday's field trip."

"Ah, about that sir, I'm actually super busy that day and-" Peter began but he was promptly cut off by Mr Harrington standing up.

"Look Peter." Mr Harrington said taking his glasses off and bringing out a cleaning cloth from his pocket. "You and I both know the only reason that Midtown got selected for this opportunity was because of your internship." He said rubbing at his glasses with the cloth.

"Uh…" Peter said glancing at the door and wondering if he could make a dash for it or if that would only cause more trouble. "No… I actually didn't know that."

Mr Harrington continued as though he hadn't heard what Peter had said, "This is a really great opportunity for the other students in the class so it would be great if we could have you on for the ride," he replaced his glasses atop his nose, "for the whole ride this time, no disappearing if possible."

"Sir I really-" Peter said trying and struggled to pull together any excuse that would allow him to be excused from this trip.

"I've heard from Stark Industries that the CEO has sent you an email, explicitly asking you to be there so please just take the permission slip and get to lunch." Mr. Harrington said in exasperation and Peter could tell he was nearing the end of his patience.

"Yes sir." Peter said trying not to grumble too much as he took the permission slip that his teacher had extended.

"My desk, Wednesday morning." Mr. Harrington said turning his attention away from Peter, adjusting his glasses and sitting back down at his desk.

Peter sighed and folded the permission slip up and tucked it into his jean pocket as he headed out the door.

"You're still coming to the Stark Industry field trip, right?" Ned blurted out, he had been waiting outside the door for Peter and had clearly heard everything.

"Well it looks like I have to now." Peter said shrugging as he and Ned started off down the corridor towards the cafeteria for lunch. "Apparently Ms. Potts sent me an email saying I have to go."

"That’s so crazy." Ned said in excitement and then seemed to realise the implications of the trip and added, "Is it going to be hard for you though?"

"Yeah." Peter said taking a deep breath and trying not to think too hard about anything.

He'd killed the mood and so they both remained quiet until they reached the cafeteria, took their meals and went to their normal table. M.J. was already there, a seat closer to them than she had been the day before. It looked like she was taking the process of warming up to them excruciatinglyslowly, that or perhaps she was just trying to convince everyone, Ned and Peter included, that they weren't actually friends.

"So, Mr. Stark Internship." She said taking a bite out of her sandwich as Ned and Peter set their trays down at the table. "What's the deal at this place, do you have your own lab or something?"

"Oh no." Peter said firmly, "no way, I just kind of help out with some of the projects you know." He said generally. It wasn't quite a lie. In the last two years, well it was six or seven years ago technically, he had been helping out with projects that Mr Stark asked him to. Once a month or so he had been called up to spend a few days at Stark Industries, learning as much as he could and sometimes getting to experiment with a few things himself. While Mr. Stark had improved his suit tenfold, and Peter had decided to lay off the 'iron spider' suit until he was ready, there were a few tweaks that he wanted to make to his regular suit. Sometimes while he had been up there Tony had recruited him for smaller missions - there had been one time when Peter had even gotten to work with Vision which was crazy awesome!

"Really? Do you like have your own work space or something?" Ned asked in surprise, "I thought there was talk of you maybe going to work there part time during college?"

"Wow." M.J. said and Peter wasn't sure if her surprise was an insult or a compliment.

"No." Peter said through his teeth as he caught sight of Flash heading in their direction.

"Pfft." Peter closed his eyes in annoyance. "Are you kidding? Stark Industries isn't going to hire an amateur like Parker." Flash chided, having somehow overheard their conversation as he walked towards his own table.

Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head, there was just no winning with Flash. Peter kind of wished that Flash had survived the Snap, then he'd have graduated already, and Peter wouldn't have to keep dealing with his crap. But Peter stayed quiet, no point picking a fight. Besides, the Snap had messed everyone up in some way, whether that be siblings that were now older than you, fitting back into a family that's aged five years or finding that your friends have grown up without you.

And who knew, maybe one day Peter would actually get to see the look on Flash's face when he found out that the guy he had teased for years was actually the Spider-Man. Peter smiled at the thought. One day… but not today, and so he turned back to Ned and MJ and continued to eat lunch.

Later that night, once Peter had finally made it home, he sat down in his room and pulled his email account up on his phone. Sure enough, amongst a flurry of emails from various subscriptions there was an email from the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts, or was he supposed to refer to her as Pepper Stark now?

Peter scanned the email quickly. She was checking in and wanted to see how he was going, she talked briefly about inviting him and his aunt to have dinner at some point with her, Morgan and Happy. Peter's heart tugged at the thought of Mr Stark not being there, so he quickly moved on. Then he got to the part talking about the field trip, Pepper said she knew that Peter would be apprehensive to go, she'd heard from Happy that things had been difficult. Peter read through it all quickly, trying not to think about anything too hard because then he'd probably start crying again. He wondered what she could possibly tell him that would convince him to actually go on this field trip and have to face through all the memories of the past times he had been to Stark Industries.

"He'd want you to be here, Peter. I know it's hard right now, trust me I do, but if we don't go on with our lives then what was the sacrifice all for? There was something that he wanted to show you here. I know he didn't get the chance, and now he never will. But it's important you see it."

And there it was. Peter was won over immediately. His curiosity was on edge and so he pulled up a reply and wrote a quick and sincere note thanking Pepper for her email and assuring her that he would be in attendance. Shutting his phone off Peter went out into the kitchen to where May was sitting at the kitchen table, sorting through some work.

"Hey honey, how was school?" She asked, not looking up from the paperwork.

"Oh y'know, this and that." He shrugged nonchalantly and then slipped the permission slip under her nose.

"What's this?" She said picking it up and scanning it. "A field trip… are you sure? You know those never end well for you. And to Stark Industries? I don't know if you're ready for this."

"I know." Peter said, she was probably right. "But Ms Potts asked for me to be there especially and I really don't want to let her down… I've let too many people down already." 

"Oh honey." May said reaching out and wrapping an arm around Peter when he come to her side. "If you think it's a good idea and you really want to go then of course I'll sign."

"Thank you." Peter said quietly and watched as she filled in the relevant information and handed it back to him.

"You aren't going out tonight?" May asked as Peter took the form back from her and made off for his room.

"I wasn't planning on it." Peter said quietly, stopping in the hall way.

"Ok honey, get some rest." May said and Peter could have sworn he heard the faint tinge of disappointment in her voice.

Peter hadn't been on a patrol since being brought back after the Decimation. He'd considered it a few times, knowing that now more than ever there were probably going to be issues and skirmishes happening around the city. It was the perfect time for the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man to come out and set a few things straight. But Peter didn't feel like the 'friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man anymore. Everything he'd experienced and done during the battle, going to space, fighting Thanos. That changed the way Peter thought about what he was doing. It shouldn't have… but it did.

May had been oddly accepting of his night time activities. Given that he was home by 11:30 and always had his phone GPS on, she didn’t mind it. Mr. Stark had even hooked her computer up with his suit lady, Karen, so that May could check in on Peter if she was really worried. It had worked well for the few years when Peter had been out patrolling the city every night.

Once Peter made it back to his room, he shut the door behind him and returned the permission slip to his bag so that he wouldn't forget it. He went about getting ready to sit down and study, picking up some of the clothes he had left lying on the ground early that morning. He pulled the sweater he had been wearing over his head and ditched it into the washing basket.

Peter opened up his closet and, as always, tried to avoid the suits that were hanging there. There was his regular suit hanging on a coat hanger and next to it on a separate hanger was the little backpack-like device that expanded into his 'iron spider' suit. Peter turned his eyes away and instead pulled out a clean t-shirt and some sweatpants to make his studying more comfortable.

He paused as he went to close the closet door and gave the two suits one long look…

"Not yet." He said, perhaps to himself, perhaps to the suits, perhaps the words were directed at Tony Stark.

Not yet.

Chapter Text

"You have twenty minutes to complete the quiz, please don't look at your neighbours answers otherwise I will have to fail you." Mr Harrington's curt voice cut through Peter's Wednesday morning as the teacher walked through the rows of desks, distributing quiz papers.

Peter blinked his eyes blearily. It was too early for a pop quiz.

The paper landed on his desk and Peter reluctantly picked up his pencil, writing his name at the top of the sheet of paper. In the corner, along the date line he wrote todays date and then had to quickly erase it when he realised, he'd put the wrong year.  5 years of his life… lost. He wasn't any older but that didn't mean he didn't feel different.

Peter tried to focus on the questions on the paper in front of him. He went through the motions of filling out the boxes on the test paper, doing working out here and there when he needed it.

"When you're done please come hand the test paper in, along with your permission slip which I hope you have all remembered to bring after my numerous reminders." Mr. Harrington droned and some of the students groaned in dismay. Clearly his reminders hadn't been enough for some of them.

Peter was the first to finish the quiz from what he could see but he waited a little bit longer. After checking over his answers once, he retrieved his permission slip from his bag and walked up towards Mr Harrington's desk.

"Took your time, Parker?" the teacher asked, not looking up from the papers he had before him.

"Ah yeah it was a pretty tricky quiz." Peter lied as he set the two documents on his teacher’s desk.

"Was it now." Mr. Harrington said, raising a sceptical eyebrow as he took the papers from Peter. "Good to see you'll be joining us on the trip, now go back to your seat."

"Yep." Peter said nodding and trudging back to his desk.

"I hope you all put a lot of effort into that quiz," Mr Harrington said once the last paper had been handed in, "because if any of you failed you won't go on the field trip this Friday."

This statement resulted in a chorus of outraged yells from the rest of the class and Mr Harrington put his hands up in surrender.

"Ok! Ok! You kids can never take jokes, can you?" Mr. Harrington pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Speaking of the field trip, there are a few things that I need to run through before we leave."

He paused to pick up a piece of paper from his desk. Peter could see the Stark Industries logo in the corner from where he was sitting.

"We will be arriving at Stark Industries at 9:30. When we get there you will all be given visitor lanyards, I highly recommend you do not lose these lanyards because they are your key in. Lose your lanyard you get chucked out and you'll be waiting in the bus for the remainder of the trip." Mr. Harrington said punctuating each word threateningly.

"The tour will involve looking through the intern labs 3a and 4c, which primarily focus on research and preliminary trial experimentation." Harrington said flipping the piece of paper over. "Lunch will be provided kindly by Stark Industries and this is when you will have the opportunity to talk to some of the lower level interns and get a feel of what you may be doing should any of you be given the opportunity to actually intern there."

"Or we could just ask Parker," Flash said snidely, "Cause y'know he obviously has the internship already."

"Shut up Flash." Ned said in exasperation.

"Shut up Flash." Flash imitated, making a face. "We’ve all heard the same rumours, Parker was probably working in the cafeteria kitchens, or as a janitor, trying to pull together a little extra cash. Like Stark Industries would actually need the help of a high schooler."

"Yeah those rumours started with you Flash." Ned snapped and Peter shook his head at Ned.

"He's not worth it." Peter said quietly.

"Does anyone mind if I get back on with what I was saying?" Mr. Harrington said, ignoring the short argument between the two students, it was a common occurrence in this class. "After lunch the remainder of the tour will be focused on looking at some of the history of Stark Industries and if you're lucky you may have the opportunity to test some of their old prototypes." A chorus of excited whispers broke out at this point.

Peter still had mixed emotions about the whole trip, but he couldn't help echoing a little of his classmates’ excitement. He'd always enjoyed visiting Stark Industries and getting to actually apply the knowledge that he learnt in and out of his Midtown classes. Hands on work was definitely more interesting. Plus, he got to help out Mr Stark here and there and that made him feel a bit better about keeping the insanely expensive suit that he'd been gifted.

At least he had been able to help Mr. Stark. Things were very different now and there was no telling what the field trip was going to be like now that Mr. Stark was gone.

Later that night Peter was sitting at his desk balancing a pen on top of his finger as he tried to think of the appropriate formula to use on the advanced chemistry question sitting in front of him. He wasn't particularly focused, and his eyes kept flicking out the window to the clear night sky. At times like these he couldn't help wishing that he was swinging from building to building instead of stuck at his uncomfortable desk.

But he wasn't ready. Peter hadn't put the suit back on since that fateful day almost one month ago, or was it technically five years? Whatever, this whole time thing was really starting to boggle his mind.

When Peter finally turned his attention back to the task before him, he was distracted yet again by a red flashing light from the corner of his eye. It was coming from the wardrobe which had been left slightly open from when he had gotten changed after school.

Hesitantly, Peter put his pen down and got out of his chair. The flashing was getting more insistent as he made his way over to the closet and opened it slowly.

Peering out from between his other clothes, the iron spider suit was flashing distinctively, a little red light appearing each second from in-between the blue plated metal.  

"What the…" Peter said taking the suit off of the hangers, probably not the best way to store a multimillion-dollar suit now that he thought about it. Peter turned the lightweight metal suit over in his hands. Not pausing to think about the possible implications of his actions Peter jabbed the flashing red light hoping to make it stop.

The light stopped immediately, and the suit seemed to let out a sigh, if machinery could even make such noises. Suddenly, the suit was crawling up his hands, fitting to his body plate by plate. Within seconds it had covered his arms and chest and before Peter knew it, the suit had reached his toes.

"Whatttt." Peter said glancing down at his hands. He'd probably activated it by accident, but that didn't explain the whole flashing light thing.

"Hello Peter." Karen said in his ear.

"Hi Karen… long time no see." Peter said quietly, hoping that Aunt May hadn't heard anything.

"It has been a long time." Karen said. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry… where you lonely?"

"My brain is synthetic, Peter, as of yet I cannot experience loneliness." Karen said matter-of-factly, "but it was different without you here."

"Oh." Peter said quietly, he rolled his shoulders, feeling the skin-tight suit shift to fit his movements. "So how come my suit was flashing?"

"For me to keep everything in top condition, the suit needs to be unpacked at least once every 30 days." Karen informed him. "As it is nearing 30 days since you last used it, I decided to get your attention."

"Huh." Peter said nodding and looking at his hands and the metal plating that was covering them. "Well seeing as I'm in the suit, and I really don't feel like studying, shall we take it out on the town?"

"It is currently 77 degrees outside, there is limited wind and the sky is clear with zero chance of rain." Karen informed him as Peter walked over to his bedroom window and slid it up as quietly as he could. "I believe the conditions are perfect to take the suit… 'out on the town' as you put it."

"Here we go." Peter said, failing to keep the excitement from his voice as he stepped up onto his windowsill and promptly threw himself out into the night air. For a moment he was falling but then, with a press of a button, a web was pulling him up towards the sky again. For a moment the euphoria of it all was the greatest thing in the world.

And then everything flooded back to Peter like it had been yesterday.

His body had ached all over. He was bleeding from somewhere on his head, but he wasn't sure where.  He was still feeling nauseous from clutching the gauntlet, the power that emanated from it made him dizzy and sick to his stomach. The rest of the battle had been flashes of pain and exhilaration and more pain. And when it finally came to a stop…

Peter's throat was burning, and his chest was heaving so rapidly he didn't have the control to shoot another web before he was falling towards the ground.

"Peter!" Karen said alarmed, or as alarmed as an AI robot could sound. But Peter didn't register any of it.

Some back up protocol of the suit must have been activated and blasters like Mr. Starks appeared, slowly lowering Peter to the ground.

Once his feet had touched the earth, Peter's knees gave way and he sunk to the ground. He pushed himself to the edge of the path. Luckily it was quiet in this particular area of the neighbourhood.

"Peter your vitals are displaying signs of distress." Karen said, seemingly concerned. "May I walk you through a breathing exercise?"

Peter could barely hear anything past the thundering in his ears. He kept a hand clutched over his mouth as the suit receded down to his neck, allowing him to breath better. Unfortunately, he was now exposed to the sounds and sights of the street around him. A motorbike roared down the road two blocks away, but it felt as though the engine were right next to him and Peter groaned and clutched his hands about his ears. A cars headlights made his eyes burn so he closed them and put his head between his knees. He wanted it to stop… everything to just stop. He felt like his heart was about to fail, it was beating so wildly, his throat so tight that breathing was becoming more and more difficult.

"Karen." He managed to force out weakly in-between desperate breaths. "What's happening?"

"I believe this is a panic attack, if you allow me, I can walk you through a breathing exercise."

"Please." Peter whispered past the lump in his throat.

He tried his best to listen to what Karen was saying and ignore the onslaught of memories that had bombarded his brain. He sat like that on the ground, outside a nameless building for what felt like hours, trying to get his breathing and heart under control again.

"-hold your breath for eight seconds." Karen instructed him calmly and Peter did so. It was starting to help and slowly he felt like he could breathe properly again.

When he finally felt steady enough to stand, Peter pushed himself to his feet. He was still shaking a little as he held his hands out in front of him. He'd experience panic before, but nothing on that kind of scale.

"Shall we go home?" Karen asked softly.

"Yes." Peter said, and the head of the suit covered his face again as he slowly but surely walked the block back to his house. He passed one or two people along the way and they stared, but no one said a word. When Peter finally made it to his front door, he closed his eyes and reached for the wall, feeling his finger tips stick immediately. Keeping his eyes closed he climbed up as quickly as he could without falling or being consumed by another panic attack and slipped in his window.

"Sorry Karen, I don't think I’m ready yet." Peter said, exhaustion hitting him as soon as he was inside once again.

"I understand." Karen said. "I have sent a copy of the information I received from your body to your computer if you wish to have a look. There will also be several websites for dealing with panic attacks should you wish to read them."

"Thanks, Karen." Peter said quietly and slowly the suit began to retract across his body until it was the small backpack like object it had been half an hour ago. Peter returned it to his closet, this time shutting the door firmly.

He definitely wasn't ready to get back into the whole Spider-Man gig.

The scary part was, Peter wasn't sure if he ever would be.

Chapter Text

"Leeds." Mr. Harrington said making a note of Ned's attendance on the clipboard he was holding. "On you get. Parker…"

Peter waited patiently to get on the bus as Mr Harrington seemed to struggle to find his name on the list, despite the fact that there were only two dozen students actually coming on the trip.

"Present." Mr. Harrington said finally and waved Peter up onto the yellow school bus.

It was Friday. Which meant it was field trip day and… memorial day.

Peter adjusted his backpack on his shoulder as he made his way onto the bus and went to take a seat next to Ned.

"I'm so excited." Ned said, struggling to contain his enthusiasm. "I can't believe I get to see where you work."

"Worked." Peter corrected him and then shushed Ned before he could object as Flash made his way onto the bus.

"Boy am I looking forward to this! Can't wait to see what Parker has planned for our grand tour," Flash said loudly, settling into a seat two rows behind Ned and Peter. "Oi Penis Parker! Did you hear me?"

"Seriously?" Ned said under his breath and Peter shook his head. Flash seriously did not know where to stop.

"Really Flash? You used to call me that in middle school, surely you’ve gotten a bit more creative?" Peter said turning his head to address the bully.

"Still effective." Flash said shrugging and turned to look out the window as the bus’s engine started up. It wasn't quite a win for Peter but at least Flash had stopped… for the time being.

"Hey." MJ greeted taking the seat in front of Ned and Peter and opening her book back up, which she had momentarily closed to get on the bus.

"Alright!" Mr. Harrington called from the front of the bus. "Make sure everyone has a seat, yes that means squeezing up a bit. No funny business once we get to Stark Industries - let's make this field trip a memorable one alright?"

Peter had no doubt that the trip was going to be memorable, he just wasn't sure in what way…

"Hey Parker," Flash called about fifteen minutes into the drive, seemingly unable to contain himself any longer. "Rumours are there are these super powerful universe crystals being kept at Stark Industries? But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that."

Peter's head jerked up in surprise. He had been absorbed in reading one of the articles that Karen had sent him about panic attacks.

"They’re called infinity stones, and no they aren't being kept at Stark Industries… they're gone." He said quickly, without thinking. That wasn't something that an 'intern' would know, it was more Spider-Man knowledge. But Peter knew there was no way that anyone would suspect him for being an Avenger.

"Pfft…" Flash said rolling his eyes, "infinity stones sounds so much worse, is that something you made up?"

"Whatever Flash." Peter said shrugging, better that Flash think he was making it up then wonder how Peter had come to know so much. If only Peter could tell Flash all the things he knew about the Avengers, that would really give him something to talk about. Peter doubted Flash would believe half of it though, trying to explain time travel like it was actually possible (which it was) was impossible with someone like Flash.

"What you looking at Parker? Making up some documents to pretend like you actually do stuff at Stark Industries other than mopping the floors?"

"Seriously Flash, just shut up." MJ spoke up, it seemed even she was getting sick of Flash's voice.

"Yeah Eugene." Ned teased.

"My name is Flash." Flash snapped and proceeded to snatch Peter's phone out of his hand.

"Hey." Peter said jumping up from his seat and making to get the phone back.

"Parker sit your ass down before I turn this bus around, you too Mr. Thompson! " Mr. Harrington called and Peter sat down in dismay.

"Seriously, give me my phone back." Peter said angrily, he'd had enough of Flash and it was only 9am. Today was difficult enough without having to deal with Flash's shit.

"Hold up," Flash said putting a hand out to stop Peter from trying to grab it back. "Let me just have a look, this looks interesting, a medical file, is this your info?"

Peter hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Flash come on… not cool."

"Huh panic attacks." Flash said squinting at the screen. "Something you wanna tell us Parker?"

"I said not cool." Peter said lashing out and grabbing the phone back.

"Sorry." Flash said putting his hands up in defence and turning away from Peter. Flash’s arrogance was hard enough to deal with on a regular basis but it was rare that he took it this far.

"Seriously." Peter said shaking his head and quitting the articles and his medical file before shoving his phone into his pocket.

"You get panic attacks?" MJ asked peering at Peter as she glanced briefly up from her book - Peter wondered how she wasn't getting car sick while reading it.

Peter didn't say anything but shrugged as an answer and turned to look out the window. He could feel the sympathy coming from Ned and though he suspected MJ's look wasn't quite as sympathetic, it still didn't make him feel good. He felt completely exposed to the judgement of his classmates.

The rest of the drive passed by uneventfully and before Peter knew it, Stark Industries had come into view. People moved over to the other side of the bus to look out the window and up at the towering New York headquarters of the famous company. Peter sighed and turned his gaze from the window. It seemed this was going to be a lot harder than he had expected. Instead of thinking about all the past times Peter had been to SI he focused on the email he had received from Pepper Potts and the promise of a surprise. It was enough for him to push all thoughts of Mr. Stark from his mind.

"Alright, everybody off!" Mr. Harrington called, opening the door to the bus, the students scrambled all trying to be the first off and into the building. "In an orderly fashion please." The request was half hearted and students almost tripped over one another anyway.

Peter waited until they had all cleared out before he, Ned and MJ made their way off and onto the sidewalk outside of Stark Industries.

"You good, Peter?" Ned asked, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Yeah." Peter said, trying to sound confident. "Totally…"

"Ok, good cause I am soexcited,” Ned said wistfully and then grew serious again, “but like if you need me to be the calm and supportive friend then I can so do that too."

"Seriously Ned, enjoy yourself." Peter said smiling, for once it felt like a real smile.

Peter realised that MJ was looking at them funny and Peter supposed their conversation would have seemed a little strange from an outsider’s perspective. Not that MJ didn't deal with this sort of stuff on a daily basis when it came to the pair. It seemed she had grown used to it because she cast her attention to the towering building in front of them.

"Alright everyone," Mr. Harrington said gesturing for the students to follow him, "let's go get signed in at reception."

Peter sent a silent prayer up to the sky, he wasn't sure who exactly he was praying too… Thor? Did prayers work with Asgardians? Regardless, he prayed that the trip would go smoothly, Flash would hopefully shut up and just focus on the tour and that for once there would be nothingblowing up.

Once all the students had made it through the revolving door and into the huge foyer of Stark Industries, they were approached by a woman in a pant suit, a clipboard tight in her grip. The ID card that was attached to her lapel read Abigail and Peter caught sight of the silver shimmer of the card. He titled his head, a silver conducting a tour for a bunch of high school kids? Not unheard of but unusual.

"Hello Midtown." She said once Mr. Harrington had managed to get the excited students under some sort of control. "Welcome to Stark Industries. My name is Abigail and I'll be leading your tour. As you know, today is an important day of remembrance for SI. One month ago, our owner and former CEO passed away. Therefore, we ask you to be extremely respectful throughout the tour and hope that you will value the opportunity that you have been granted today."

Peter kept his eyes focused on the top of Abigail's blonde head and tried not to think about what she was saying. Not thinking about things seemed to be the best way to keep himself in one piece until he inevitably fell apart at the memorial later that night that he would be attending with Aunt May.

Peter's attention eventually drifted back to what Abigail was saying, "-lanyards are being passed around now, please keep them around your neck at all times. We have a tight security system. That means no lanyard, no tour, no exceptions."

"How come they are blue?" Flash piped up as he took a lanyard first and slung it around his neck, despite the fact that the other students were politely passing them around before taking their own.

"There are several levels of clearance here at Stark Industries." Abigail said handing out the remaining lanyards. "Blue is for visitors, bronze is for elementary interns and other temporary staff, silver is for preliminary researchers," Abigail indicated her own badge, "gold has three levels based on what area of research and development you are working in, platinum is reserved for our highly regarded researchers who manage SI's main projects whilst Platinum X is reserved strictly for the CEO and those she sees fit to receive such clearance."

“Who exactly has Platinum X?” Flash asked, pushing for more information.

“It depends on who the CEO wants to have access to the highest level of clearance.” Abigail remained polite despite Flash’s obnoxious tone. “I believe there are select few avengers who have access to Platinum X clearance, though that may have changed.”

"Parker? Did you get a lanyard?" Mr. Harrington said, seeing that Peter didn't have a blue badge hanging around his neck like the other students.

"Mr. Parker does not require a blue clearance badge," Abigail said glancing at her clipboard for information. "He has his own clearance badge already."

Flash snorted and seemed to be about to question this but Abigail promptly moved on. Peter sighed in relief.

"What level of clearance do you have?" Ned asked out of the corner of his mouth so that none of the other students could hear as Abigail continued her introduction.

"Oh y'know." Peter said shrugging and feeling for the badge he'd put in his pocket that morning. "It's pretty average."

It wasn't 'average' at all. For Peter's last birthday (before the Snap, that is) he had received a thick envelope from Mr. Stark with a bundle of different forms and legal documents. On top of it all had been a shimmering black badge, marking Peter’s new Platinum X status, with his face and ID number stamped on it. On the back of the badge in the same sparkly, black finish was the arachnid logo of the Spider-Man suit. Next to it had been a folded note from Mr. Stark:

Thought it might be useful for you to actually get into the labs you're working in rather than me having to buzz you in every time! I know you're trustworthy with these projects, but Pepper insisted on the paper work - something about legal stuff? Anyway, have a look at everything and get it back to me when you can. I better see you here next month, got big things planned.

Happy birthday kid.

Tony

Peter still had the note somewhere in his room back home. He'd gleefully signed the documents with May's help and sent them back that same day. May had laughed that evening when Peter brought the ID card with him to the dinner table just so he could continue to admire it. Only Mr. Stark could turn work into a birthday present.

"In a moment we'll be leaving the lobby and moving onto the first area of the tour. I have to ask you to keep noise to a low level, many of the workers here are extremely busy working on post-Decimation restoration projects so if you have questions please raise your hands and I'll do my best to answer them given that we aren’t distracting anyone." Abigail said, leading the team of students towards the far end of the lobby. "For now, I'll ask you to go through this detector, it's not your average metal detector so no need to remove any of your phones or anything, this is just to make sure we don’t have any dangerous or unauthorised equipment entering the premises."

Slowly but surely the students started filing through the detector, each person was met with a green light and Peter honestly felt a little surprised that no one had tried to bring something stupid in. He clearly didn't have a lot of faith in his classmates.

Crap. He was the stupid one.

His suit.

He'd put it in his backpack that morning.

"Crap." Peter muttered to himself and glanced around frantically. There was no way of getting out of this situation. If he tried to avoid going through the detector he’d probably be searched and if he didgo through the detector, they’d catch him straight away.

"Everything all right Parker?" Mr. Harrington said seeing Peter's distress.

"Yes sir, completely fine!" Peter said, his voice breaking slightly.

Every other time he'd come to Stark Industries he'd just scanned his badge at the main entrance gates like the rest of the employees and gone straight through. He’d never had his bag searched which was lucky considering the array of tech Peter was usually carrying and, on more than on occasion, his spidey suit had been amongst it all.

Peter mentally kicked himself for bringing the suit. All he’d wanted was to return it to Pepper, perhaps Friday would know what to do with it. Peter didn’t deserve the suit anymore. He was beginning to doubt if he ever had.

Maybe the detector wouldn't pick up the iron spider suit as hostile? The chances seemed low, but he didn't see any way out of it. Peter was starting to panic, if he was stopped and searched the first thing they would find would be the suit. Was there any way for him to contact Ms Potts? Or was he just supposed to get caught? There was still time with another two people waiting to go through the detector, plus Flash had been pulled aside and searched. It seemed he had been trying to take a banana through, to Flash's dismay, the piece of fruit was promptly discarded.

Peter unzipped his bag and reached in feeling for the small earpiece case he knew he had put in there that morning, it rarely left his bag, force of habit. To an outsider it looked exactly like an air pods charger case, and they weren't that much different to be honest. Peter slipped one into his ear and struggled to keep his voice low.

"Karen?" Peter kept a hand over his mouth, hoping he didn't seem too suspicious as he zipped his bag back up.

"Yes Peter." Karen said through the earpiece.

"Ok… I've brought my suit to Stark Industries and they are trying to get me to go through the detector thingy and if I do it’s going to go off and they'll find my suit and they’ll know everything, and I don't know what to do." He blurted out as quietly and quickly as he could.

"Ok Peter calm down." Karen said and Peter started tapping his foot nervously. "You have Platinum X clearance, all you have to do is display your card and you'll be let through."

"Are you sure?" Peter said.

"Certain."

"Alright…" Peter said slowly looking up as MJ successfully cleared the detector.

"Come on through, Peter." Abigail said from the other side where the rest of Peter's class was gathered and waiting.

Peter swallowed nervously and after a slight nudge in the back from Ned he stepped under the metal frame of the detector. Two red lights flashed either side of the detector and a monotone voice of a bot sounded overhead.

"Hostile materials detected. You require a clearance level of gold 1 or higher to bring the identified materials into Stark Industries. Present the appropriate identification if you wish to proceed." The bot said promptly, and Peter sighed. The two security guards had closed in on either side of him, clearly neither of them expected Peter to be able to fulfil the request. Peter quickly fished his ID out of his pocket and turned it towards both guards.

The security guard to Peter's right indicated the swipe pad that he should use. Peter quickly waved the card past the panel before the rest of the class could see his unbelievable clearance level.

"Clearance status: accepted. Peter Parker, ID number: 180427, you are free to proceed." The bot informed him, and Peter's shoulders slumped in relief. Peter looked quickly to his class and heard the murmurs that broke out as everyone theorised of how Peter had managed to obtain clearance level of gold 1 or higher. He could have sworn he heard Flash say ‘seems fake’ and wouldn't put it past him to have said several things worse.

"My apologies Peter." Friday's voice was now speaking through the speaker. "I did not realise you would be using the guest entrance, we were expecting you to enter through the employee gates or the roof." Peter winced at the mention of the roof, Mr. Stark hadn’t been happy when Peter had started turning up stuck to the window of Tony’s lab, tapping on the glass to be let in.

"Hey Friday," Peter said brushing it off and smiling warmly at the sound of the computer’s familiar voice, "it's ok!"

"Welcome back, I will inform Ms Potts that you have arrived."

"Uh thank you." Peter said feeling the eyes of everyone trained intensely on him. "I'll talk to you later Friday."

"I have also logged your AI onto our network, if you need anything feel free to contact either of us if you need anything, enjoy the tour.” Friday said, informing Peter that Karen would now be accessible through any of the remote panels throughout SI. It was what normally happened when he had been to SI in the past because it meant he could work with Karen at his station without bothering the other lesser bots that helped run SI. Peter couldn’t imagine what was going through his classmates’ heads at all of this. For once even Flash didn’t know what to say.  

Peter tried to keep the relief from showing on his face as he moved on, returning his ID card to his pocket.

"See Peter, that was fine." Karen said and Peter wondered how machines could sound smug.

Chapter Text

"See Peter, that was fine." Karen said through the small black ear piece that Peter was still wearing.

"I know." Peter sighed quietly so that the other students couldn't hear him. Majority of them were gaping at him and Peter couldn’t help feeling just a little bit insulted. Had they all seriously thought he was a janitor at Stark Industries? Really? Peter tried not to let it get him down as he removed his ear piece and returned it to its case.

"I'm going to choose to ignore the fact that you tried to get through with an explosive in your backpack or something -" MJ said to Peter who spluttered in response, "and focus on the fact that you must have pretty high clearance to be let through without it being an issue." She didn't sound surprised perse, more curious.

"Yeah I guess…" Peter said once he had regained his composure. "I had to work on some stuff for Mr. Stark and some of the labs needed specific clearance." It wasn’t a lie.

"Damn Parker." She said nodding appreciatively. Peter’s heart did a little flip flop and he cleared his throat in surprise. Before he could address the odd feeling, Flash felt the need to contribute to their conversation.  

"Do you actually believe his bullshit, Michelle?" Flash asked indignantly.

"You just saw him use a clearance higher than you'd ever hope to get and you're saying that you don’t?" MJ fired back and it seemed Flash was a little stumped at that one.

"It's probably fake." Flash grumbled.

"I think you will find that our AI system is far to advanced to allow for fake badges to be used." Abigail said, turning her back on the group and leading them off down the hallway towards the elevator.

"He literally heard Friday talking to you and he still thinks that you don't work here?" Ned asked having made it through the detector safely. Together, Ned, MJ and Peter followed the rest of the tour group down the narrow corridor.

"Seems so." Peter said grumpily. It was difficult sometimes, not being able to take credit for the feats he achieved as Spider-Man, but over the last few years that had ceased to really matter. Having Flash and some of the other students not believe Peter for doing work he was actually open about was pretty frustrating. What on earth would they think if he told them he was Spider-Man?

"Can't you just show them your clearance badge to prove it to them? Or if we like bump into one of the Avengers you can be all like 'hey Hawkeye how you doin?'" Ned asked trying to imitate Peter's voice and, in the process, making it several octaves deeper than it needed to be.

"Sure thing Ned. If we bump into the Avengers, which we won't, I'll be sure to do that cause that's totally cool." Peter joked bumping his shoulder against Ned's fondly. There was absolutely no way Peter would even dream of approaching Clint Barton that casually, the archer was super intimidating.

"The first part of our tour will be conducted on level five." Abigail said bringing the group to a stop outside the elevators. "This level is home to several of our intern labs, including lab 3a which is our first stop for today. 3a is where majority of initial planning takes place, you'll be able to see where our interns are creating their ideas and beginning their models. After this we will proceed onto lab 4c which is where they begin trialling prototypes. There are some interesting projects in the works at the moment and if you're lucky you'll be able to see some of them being tested."

Peter was beginning to feel excited. It had been a while since he had last been to SI and by the rest of the worlds timeline it had been even longer. Back when Peter had first started visiting Stark Industries, Mr. Stark had placed him in Lab 3a to shadow some of the interns and learn how things worked at SI before he was allowed to progress onto developing his own projects. In the two years since then Peter had predominantly been working on Spider-Man tech alongside a few projects involving search and rescue tech that Mr. Stark had assigned to him.

"Because there is so many of us, we'll be going up the elevator in two groups, Peter can I have you escort the other half of the group to the fifth floor?" Abigail asked as she swiped her clearance card in front of the elevator swipe screen and waited for it to arrive at the ground floor.

"Sure." Peter said and walked over to one of the other elevators and swiped his own card. He ignored the way that his classmates’ eyes followed him and the way that Flash stuck his head out in an attempt to get a good look at Peter's clearance card.

Abigail's elevator arrived first, but it seemed a fair few of the students were keener to ride with Peter than in hers.

"Come on, in you get." Mr. Harrington said ferrying some of the students into the elevator, much to their dismay. Flash tried to duck out of the teacher's reach but was eventually coaxed into Abigail’s elevator, much to Peter’s relief.

He was left on the ground floor with Ned, MJ and a handful of other students. The elevator dinged when it arrived and Peter stepped in first, holding the doors open for the rest of the students. When everyone was in, he turned to the panel lining the wall to the left of the doors and scanned his clearance card again, swiftly returning it to his pocket and hoping that no one had seen it properly. The questions that would result from seeing how high his clearance actually was, were ones he didn't quite know how to answer.

"Hi Peter, what floor are you going to?" Friday asked over the intercom and Peter looked up in surprise. Friday was too advanced to be manning an elevator that a simple AI bot could handle.

"Uh… 5 please Friday." Peter replied into the panel receiver and the elevator doors closed and the box lifted smoothly from the ground. The wall opposite the door was made of glass and the students turned around to look out and down at the glass crosswalks that extended over the centre of the first few floors of SI. It was always a sight to behold and Peter never go bored of seeing it. There had always been an organised bustle to SI and Peter loved being a part of it.

"Ms Potts is currently in a meeting but I have informed her you are here. Happy has also been notified and has promised to come see you at some point today." Friday informed Peter in her thick Irish accent.

"Cool." Peter said, smiling at the thought of seeing Happy again. "Is Morgan here today?"

"She is currently with Happy whilst Ms Potts is in her meeting." Friday replied and the elevator came to a stop as they reached the fifth floor.

"Thanks Friday." Peter said exiting the lift and leading the students out into the corridor where the rest of the class was waiting.

"Your life is seriously crazy." Ned said, slightly dumbfounded by the casual conversation that Peter had just had with the Stark's AI.

"You're only just realising that?" Peter asked, laughing in disbelief. "My life is all kinds of crazy."

"Welcome to lab 3a." Abigail said bringing the group of students to a stop outside of a pair of sliding doors that led into the intern lab. Peter was more than familiar with the lab. He looked up at the letters crafted from old bits of tech and LED lights that read 'LAUNCHPAD'. After spending a couple of days in the lab two years ago, Peter had noticed that most of the interns referred to it by 'launchpad' rather than its official name. After a few weekends Mr. Stark had decided that Peter had had enough experience in working with the other interns and had moved him up to work on different projects, while allowing Peter to develop his own things on the side. As a thank you to the others who had been working in the lab, Peter had crafted the sign out of bits and pieces of the models that he had first made in the lab. The other interns had also contributed some of their projects so that the sign was a part of them all. Peter expected that would be taken down now that all of the original interns would have moved on, but it was nice that a piece of them all remained at Launchpad. As the name connoted, Lab 3a was the 'launchpad' of ideas and the place that all projects began and waited approval before interns could begin working on them properly.

Abigail welcomed them all into the lab space. The room was divided by several cluttered desks as well as a handful of SI holo-tables (Peter's personal favourite piece of equipment at SI), creating a grid pattern. Amongst the tables were around six interns, all going about their business. Overseeing it all was the head of Launchpad, Daniel. Back when Peter had started out as an intern he had been under the supervision of Daniel, with implicit instruction from Mr. Stark to 'just let the kid do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't blow anything up'. Back when Peter had been in this lab Daniel had seemed to be in his late 20s, but he seemed older now, more tired, it looked like he had escape the Snap.

"Midtown, this is Daniel." Abigail said as Daniel joined her at the head of the group.

"Hi everyone," Daniel said giving a little wave. "I manage the interns here at Lab 3a, aka Launchpad. I basically make sure that everyone is pursuing feasible projects and that they aren't going to end up blowing things up or accidentally electrocuting themselves once they actually start experimenting with their projects." Daniel's dark eyes gave Peter a pointed look and the boy grinned apologetically in reply. "Any and every project has to go through my approval before it is moved onto Lab 4c or 4d which is where the interns have the opportunity to start preliminary experimentation and data collection."

"You'll now have a bit of time to look around Launchpad. Daniel has told me that his interns will be more than happy to answer some of your questions about their projects so please feel free to make your way around." Abigail said and let the students slowly spread out into the room. It seemed they were finding the whole process daunting and to Peter's surprise it was Ned who made the first move, walking over to a small mousy haired boy who was working at one of the holo-tables. He looked up and smiled warmly when Ned approached him.

Their conversation was lost to Peter's ears as he remained behind to greet Daniel.

"If it isn't Peter Parker." Daniel said raising his eyebrows.

"Hey Daniel." Peter said grinning and giving the intern leader a quick hug. "It's been a while."

"A while?" Daniel said shaking his head and chuckling slightly. "Just 5 years!"

"Sorry." Peter said shrugging innocently and snapping his fingers, Daniel nodded knowingly.

"You working on anything at the moment?" Daniel asked eagerly.

"Nah…" Peter said trailing off sheepishly, "I haven’t really done anything like that in a while."

"Are you kidding me?" Daniel said in surprise. "Peter you have real talent, surely Mr. Stark had a part-time position set up for you here once you go to college?"

"Yeah I don't think so." Peter said shrugging and trying not to seem too sorrowful.

"Still have your sights set on MIT?" Daniel asked prodding Peter's arm and leading him over to his own workspace at the entrance of the lab.  

"Yeah, I guess…" Peter said, the future had seemed so unsure since getting back from the Snap he wasn't really certain  what he was going to do once he graduated.

"I sure hope so," Daniel said leaning against his holo-table casually. "I've been here almost ten years, if you include the Snap time, and I've never had an intern as diligent and talented as you. It would be unfortunate if you let all those ideas sit in your head instead of putting them out into the world to help people."

What Daniel said struck a chord in Peter and he nodded knowingly. "You're right." Peter said looking around at the lab, he missed it all. The process of hypotheses, creating an idea and watching it grow, nurturing it into a model and eventually seeing it come to life. "I just need a little time to figure everything out."

"I get it." Daniel said clapping Peter on the shoulder fondly. "If you need a letter of recommendation or anything, I mean I'm sure the CEO will get you one, but if you do need another just let me know, I'd be more than happy to write one."

"Thanks Daniel, that means a lot." Peter said grinning and looking down at his feet before returning his gaze to the rest of his class. They were making their excited way around to each intern.

"So, tell me what else has been up with you?" Daniel asked folding his arms casually over his lab coat.

"Not much to be honest." Peter said shrugging and sitting against the holo-table with Daniel. "I'm mostly just trying to get back on my feet again after the Decimation. It's hard to catch up when everyone else has moved on five years."

"I hear you." Daniel said nodding solemnly. "For the people like me who were left behind it was hell. The world was in chaos… no one knew what to do."

They were both silent for a bit and Peter wondered if he had put a damper on the conversation. It wasn't exactly the most bright and happy of topics, but it was the truth. Peter told enough lies in his life to find the excuse to be truthful whenever possible.

"But we go on, y'know?" Daniel said pushing his dark hair out of his face and looking out the large window that bordered one side of the lab and to the sky outside. "Just like we all slowly learned to live in that time five years ago, it's your turn now."

"I guess that's true." Peter said sighing sadly.

"But hey, it beats being dead right?" Daniel said grinning and standing up again. "Come on, I'll show you round to some of the projects that are being drafted right now."

"Lead the way." Peter said eagerly, pushing himself off the holo-table and following his old mentor around the lab. 

"Thank you very much for your time, Daniel." Mr. Harrington said once their hour looking around Launchpad was up.

"Not at all," Daniel said, shaking Mr. Harrington's hand, "it's good for the other interns to have a go at presenting their experiments to people other than me or the AI."

"Seriously!" One of the interns piped up in agreement, "At least you all listened rather than just criticising our work." A few people among the class chuckled, not entirely sure whether she was referring to the AI or Daniel. Peter nodded knowingly, even Karen could be brutally blunt when it came to his ideas.

"Enjoy the rest of your tour." Daniel said by way of goodbye. Peter returned Daniel's warm smile as they left the Launchpad.

"Dude…" Ned said and Peter was worried that he friend was getting too overwhelmed. "This is insane."

"Which part?" Peter asked laughing.

"I think he means all of it." MJ said knowingly.

"I can't believe you worked here!" Ned exclaimed in hushed disbelief. "Your life is literally insane… like insane!"

"I guess it is pretty crazy… not bad Peter." MJ said and Peter did a bit of a double take. It was one of the rare times that Peter had heard MJ refer to him using his first name.

"You should have heard Flash's comments while we were in there though." Ned grumbled. "All that time you were talking to Daniel he was just making comments about how he could do better than the interns and he wasn't being quiet about it all."

"So damn rude." MJ said in disdain as the three of them watched the boy’s head as he walked up near the front of the group.

"Don't worry, one day he's going to get what is coming for him." Peter said confidently. He'd love to have the opportunity to knock Flash's ego down a few pegs if he ever got the chance. It might be hard as Peter Parker but perhaps Spider-Man could pull a few strings…

It seemed, however, the universe had different plans. Peter came to an abrupt stop, almost walking face first into the back of MJ as the whole student group stopped walking.

"Holy shit." Flash whispered.

"No way." MJ breathed.

"Are you all going down or up?" A familiar voice said, and Peter stood on his tip toes to compensate for his semi-average height and see over the group of students before him.

Peter felt sure that his eyes were tricking him because standing before the elevator, proving to be the oddest trio and entirely out of place in the corridor of Stark Industries was Dr Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff and none other than the genius Princess of Wakanda, Shuri.  

The students stood in stunned silence and even Peter felt a little bit like a deer caught in headlights. What was he supposed to do? He knew that the other Avengers obviously knew his true identity, but did that mean that he got to talk to them here? There was also the question of what one of the most powerful and two of the smartest Avengers were doing at SI. In the years Peter had worked at the New York headquarters he hadn't encountered the other Avengers, save for Mr Stark, Vision and Colonel Rhodes. Back then the greatest concern of the Avengers was the Sokovia Accords which had forced the rest of the team to go underground for two years, only resurfacing for the Battle of Wakanda. Even Dr Banner had been off in another universe at the time. Seeing the three of them here was definitely odd.

"Dr Banner…" Abigail said finally after the silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity. "Um we're going up."

"Hang on a second," Bruce said glancing over the crowd of students, his superior height granting him some advantages in spotting the small kid standing at the back of the group. "Is that you, Peter? Come on out kid."

"Peter, as in Tony's Peter?" Shuri asked following Bruce's gaze to Peter who’s feet felt rooted to the ground as his classmates turned back to look at him, whispers bursting out.

"Dude, she knows your name." Ned whispered as both him and MJ turned to Peter in shock. Peter couldn't help feeling equally surprised that Shuri remembered his name, they had only really met on the battlefield and then at Mr Stark's funeral. Underneath the surprise, Peter was glad that they were all using his real name rather than his Spider-Man alias. Still, that wasn't enough to cover up the question of how on earth Peter knew threeof the Avengers.

"Hi Dr. Banner, Ms Maximoff, Princess." Peter said once he finally got his legs walking. He tried not to feel too proud and let it go to his head, but there was no denying that having three of the Avengers know your name was pretty cool. You literally are an AvengerPeter reminded himself mentally.

"How you going kid?" Dr. Banner asked as he enveloped Peter in a hug before Peter could protest. Peter grinned anyway and tried his best to return Bruce's affection, but it was sort of difficult given that Bruce was several feet taller than him.

In an attempt, perhaps, to draw the student’s attention away from Peter's interaction with the Avenger, Abigail walked over to the other elevator and called another one down. In the meantime, she tried to talk to the students about their next stop, Lab 4c, but was largely unsuccessful. Everyone's attention was still on Peter, particularly Flash who was sneering in his direction.

"Yeah, I'm not bad I guess," Peter replied once Bruce let him go. "My school is here on a field trip today," he said gesturing to the stunned students who had slowly been coaxed over to one of the other elevators.

"Ah yes, hi kids how are you doing?" Bruce said turning his attention briefly to the other students and waving. Shuri mirrored this and Wanda raised her eyebrows by way of greeting.

"How the fuck does Penis Parker know the Hulk?" Flash hissed, too quiet for the Avengers to hear but loud enough that it earned a sharp look from Mr Harrington and a fuming scowl from Ned.

The Avengers lift had arrived, but Bruce stepped aside and gestured to it, "you go ahead and take this one, we can wait for the next lift."

"Thank you Doctor." Abigail said, still slightly dumbfounded but proceeding to lead as many students into the lift as possible. "Peter, we'll be going up to level 6, can you take those three with you?" Ned and MJ had hung behind and not made it in, and, much to Peter's dismay, so had Flash. Peter nodded reluctantly and turned back to the Avengers.

"It's good to see you again." Peter said smiling widely at Wanda Maximoff and trying not to feel too intimidated.

"It's good to see you too," Wanda replied warmly. Peter hadn't really had much of a chance to see to Wanda aside from in battles. Particularly back in 2016 with the fight in Germany when they had been on opposing sides. The next time he had seen Scarlet Witch had been a month ago after they had both been brought back from the Snap. Peter had always admired and been in awe of Wanda's powers but seeing her almost rip Thanos apart with them had been completely insane.

"It's really good to see you all again." Peter said grinning at the Avengers. Aside from his despair and the loss he felt at not having Mr Stark around anymore, Peter had been lonely. Sometimes he couldn’t help wishing there were other Avengers of his age to talk to. Ned and May obviously knew his secret, but they didn’t understand what it was like, the stresses that came with the responsibility of being a superhero of sorts.

"We only saw you a month ago." Shuri reminded him. Peter ignored the way that MJ and Flash gaped at him when she said that.

"Yeah but a month is still a pretty long time." Peter said shrugging, there was a lot more than he wanted to say but what with MJ and Flash standing not far from them, he wasn't entirely sure how much he could say without risking his identity.

"I suppose a month is a long time when you're a kid." Wanda pondered as the elevator finally arrived at their floor.

"Wanda you aren't actually that much older than him." Bruce said making his way into the lift.

"Yeah but she has an old soul." Shuri said patting Wanda's shoulder.

"I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment." Wanda said looking sideways at Shuri and frowning slightly.

"Of course, it's a complement." Shuri said innocently. Peter wasn't entirely sure of the age difference between them, but it couldn’t have been much.

"Ned, MJ, Flash. Come on.” Peter said gesturing as he held the elevator open with one arm.

They seemed to snap out of a trance and eventually joined the three Avengers, technically four, in the lift. "Level 6 and Level 19." Bruce informed the AI once they were all in.

"But what are you all doing here?" Peter asked, leaning against the wall of the elevator casually. His classmates’ eyes flicked between Peter and the Avengers in disbelief. God only knew the questions he was about to get after this interaction.

"We've had a bit of a breakthrough with one of our projects…" Wanda said trailing off and glancing at her companions.

"We have a way to restore Vision!" Shuri burst out, seemingly unable to contain her excitement any longer. "Properly this time." Peter wasn't aware there was an improper way, or that they had even been working on bringing Vision back but that's what he got for not being involved with the Avengers for a month.

"Shuri." Bruce grumbled, shaking his head but smiling nonetheless.

"What? He's Tony's kid it's fine." Shuri said shrugging and smiling at Peter knowingly, obviously there was also another reason that he could know but Flash and MJ didn't need to know that.

"That's so awesome! So, you can bring Mr Vision back to life?" Peter said excitedly and looked to Wanda who had broken out in a rare and bright smile.

"Well that's what we are hoping." Bruce said stroking his chin in thought. "We’re hoping that what we need is here at Stark Industries. After that we’ll be attending the memorial later too."

"I'm really happy for you." Peter said directing the statement at Wanda. Not many people outside of the Avengers had known of the intimate relationship that Wanda Maximoff had had with Vision. Peter himself had only found out by accident in overhearing a conversation between Vision and Mr Stark. "I guess I'll be seeing you all at the memorial later too."

"Dr Banner," Flash said breaking the solemn tone the conversation had been about to progress to. Peter had almost forgotten that Flash was even in the lift with them. The boy had extended a rather bold hand out to the Hulk, yet he was completely ignoring the two women in the elevator. "Flash Thompson, big fan."

"Hey kid, nice to meet you." Bruce said shaking the outstretched hand slowly and looking at Peter, who tried not to make a face. He was praying that Dr Banner didn't think he was actually friendswith Flash or anything.

"Sir, I do have one question for you." Flash said and Peter balked at the prospect.

"Fire away."

"How much did Parker pay you for you to act like you all actually know him? Or are you guys just really realistic actors or something?"

"What the hell, Flash." MJ groaned and buried her head in her hands in exasperation.

"Is he for real?" Bruce asked looking questioningly at Peter who was going red in embarrassment.

"It's an honest question," Flash said as the doors to floor six finally opened, Peter was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic as the situation rapidly went south. "I have to know, why are you acting like you know Penis Parker when all he probably does here is mop the floors. Of course, that explains why he has such high clearance, so that he can clean the CEOs office and take the trash out!" Flash said suddenly coming to the realisation.

Peter glowered at Flash and wished more than anything that he could throw in a punch or a kick, but the doors had already opened, and Mr Harrington had a clear sight of Peter from the corridor where the rest of the students were gathered.

"Is this guy kidding?" Wanda asked narrowing her eyes at Flash as the boy made no move to get out of the elevator. "You can't be serious."

"Ok so maybe you aren't the real Avengers then… you two are probably just pretending to be Scarlet Witch and the Princess of Wakanda right?" Flash said and Peter felt his heart drop. Why in Thor’s name would you insult the Avengers?

"Seriously Flash just stop." Peter urged, he just wanted to get on with the rest of the damn tour now. Of course, Flash had to ruin the first conversation Peter had had with the other Avengers in weeks.

"I admire your self-control păianjen copil," Wanda said dropping in a couple words in what Peter assumed was her mother tongue, "but I am afraid I cannot share it." She was no longer smiling.

"Wanda as much as I would love to join you in kicking this punk's ass, he is a high school student so please don't do anything too-"

Bruce was cut off by Wanda stepping forward and flicking Flash's shoulder with her right hand, packing just enough of her mystical red powers to send Flash flying out the elevator and into the 6th floor corridor.

"Mr Thompson what are you doing?" Mr. Harrington said in disbelief, he had apparently not seen the trick that Scarlet Witch had pulled, or perhaps he had chosen to ignore it.

"Oops." Wanda deadpanned looking at Bruce defiantly and earning an enthusiastic high five from Shuri.

"If that little rat bothers you again give him a couple of these to take home," Shuri said dropping a couple of small beads in Peter's hands, they were smaller than the Kimoyo beads she wore around her wrist, "they'll give him a bit of a shock later."

"Oh, come on." Bruce complained pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do I really have to be the responsible one? You cannot go around giving out shock beads to high school students to use against bullies."

"Ned, Michelle, Peter." Mr. Harrington called and reluctantly Ned and MJ exited the elevator to return to the high school group. Flash was gradually picking himself up off the ground, rubbing the small of his back and grumbling about stupid 'party tricks'.

"But I can give shock beads to Spider-Man." Shuri said a little more quietly and shrugged before adding a fourth bead to Peter's palm.

"Thank you," Peter said grinning and tucking the beads into his pocket making a mental note to not leave them there lest he be the one getting the shock. "Good luck with everything that you're working on with Mr. Vision. I really hope it works out." Peter smiled sincerely at Wanda.

"Thanks kid." Bruce said clapping Peter on the shoulder as he left the elevator, Peter would have fallen flat on his face with the force of it if it hadn't been for his spidey powers. "We'll see you tonight at the memorial?"

"Yeah…" Peter said quietly and smiled sorrowfully at Bruce. "I'll see you there."

Peter turned around to watch the elevator doors slowly close. He gave the three Avengers a little wave as the silver box moved upwards, carrying them to the 19^thfloor and leaving Peter to return to the mundanity of his high school field trip. Though he didn’t realise it at the time, the trip was not going to remain mundane for long.

Chapter Text

Once Peter had watched the elevator leave, he reluctantly returned to the school group, taking his place next to Ned and MJ. The rest of his class were quite clearly torn between listening to Abigail's tour and gaping at Peter following his inexplicable interaction with three of the Avengers. Peter was thankful that no one had the chance to ask him any question as Abigail introduced their next stop on the tour. He had no idea how he would even begin to explain it all without giving away his identity.

Flash had picked himself up off the ground, leaving what was left of his dignity behind as he made his way over to join the rest of the class. A couple of the students snickered at him and he glared fiercely. Flash tried to elbow his way past Peter, who sidestepped just in time thanks to his Spidey sense, resulting in Flash stumbling and barely stopping himself from faceplanting into the ground.

"Mr Thompson." Mr Harrington reprimanded as Flash scrambled to regain his balance having interrupted their tour guide’s introduction of the lab they were now standing outside. "Please try and control yourself." A chorus of muffled laughter broke out amongst the students and Flash scowled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his Midtown blazer.

"As I was saying," Abigail continued, gesturing to the silver automatic doors they were now waiting in front of. "Welcome to Lab 4c. This is one of the four labs that are used by our interns for testing their projects. We have some pretty interesting stuff in the works at the moment so get excited. Should you be given the opportunity to intern in the research and experimentation sector of SI, you too would have the ability to create your own projects and trial them. I'm sure you've heard all about that from Mr Parker though." Peter felt his cheeks heat as some of the students glanced at him again. It seemed there was no escaping attention today. It wasn't that Peter hated it, and he could understand his classmates’ interest, but it was somehow easier to deal with it all when he was behind a mask.

"I'd like to remind you that these interns are working so please be respectful and refrain from touching their projects unless they give explicit permission. You'll have the opportunity to experiment a little yourself after lunch when we have a look at old prototypes in a controlled environment. For now, we would really like to avoid any injuries." Abigail explained before retrieving her clearance card from her lapel and scanning it at the touch pad to the left of the door. It hissed slightly as it slid open, inviting the students into the lab space.

Unlike Launchpad, 4c was full of open space. There was very little clutter about the few tables and the interns were often reprimanded if their spaces were unkempt because of the fire risks this would pose. Each intern had around 12 square feet of space to work in depending on how big their projects got. Regardless, they all made use of every inch for experimentation.

Peter's senses were immediately bombarded with sound and commotion and he blinked a few times to let his eyes adjust to the harsh lighting of 4c. The lights held a faint ring to them that Peter had always hated. Back when he had spent some time in 4c he had often had headphones in to block it out and allow himself to concentrate.

A drone buzzed past Peter's head and he ducked to avoid it as Ned joined him. "I can't believe you go to work here." He said shaking his head in disbelief, struggling, it seemed, to take in all the sights of the lab. Sparks exploded in the far corner of the room, followed by a great deal of violent swearing. On the other side of the room the drones had coalesced into a pattern that shifted and changed before breaking apart and returning to a holo-table. The intern in change of the project opened the panel of one and prodded at its insides with a screwdriver.

"This is pretty cool." MJ said appreciatively. The three of them stood at the forefront of the lab space trying to take everything in as the rest of their eager classmates swarmed the interns with the most interesting and large projects.

"Which was your workspace while you were here?" Ned asked eagerly looking to Peter who pointed over to the far end of the lab where a holo-table stood next to a workspace by the window. Peter had always preferred the natural light to work by because it prevented headaches and helped with his sensory overload.

"I can't believe you got to work here, Peter." MJ said shaking her head, admiration colouring her voice. Peter grinned.

"Yeah cause Parker so made it into this lab." Flash said snidely and Peter's smile immediately fell as Flash joined them, a couple of other students tailing behind him.

Peter was quickly beginning to accept the fact that there was just no way that he could escape Flash today. Unfortunately, it seemed Flash was filled with new found motivation to humiliate Peter after the mild ass kicking that he had received from Wanda Maximoff.

"He actually did, Flash." Ned said indignantly, loyal as ever. "Right Peter?"

Peter was sick of playing down his involvement in SI. Flash would probably crap himself if he knew what Peter really did for SI and the Avengers.

"Really? You actually got to design your own tech?" Another student piped up.

Peter nodded insistently, he'd done that and much more.

"Fine." Flash said folding his arms arrogantly, "give us some proof then, what exactly did you work on?"

"Oh y'know," Peter said shrugging, "just some stuff for Spider-Man."

"Ohh right," Flash said snapping his fingers, "I forgot that you and Spider-Man are best buds."

"Peter created Spider-Man's webs!" Ned blurted out.

"Dude!" Peter exclaimed turning to Ned in exasperation.

"I'm sorry," Ned said more quietly, "you know that he's not going to stop if you don't show him something good enough to shut him up. Why don't you show him what you can really do?"

"That has to be the biggest load of bs that I have ever heard, like you would have anything to do with tech on that sort of level." Flash said shaking his head. At this point some of the other students had noticed the stand-off that was occurring and had joined the growing throng behind Flash.

"Whatever it takes to get you to actually believe me." Peter said shrugging and ignoring Flash's responding scoff. He walked over to the nearest intern who didn't seem to be using her holo-table at the present moment. "Hey, I'm sorry, my name's Peter, I worked here a few years ago and my friends would like to see some of my old projects. Would it be alright if I borrowed your holo-table for a moment? I won't touch your specs or anything I just need to pull up my old files."

The redhead glanced up from her notes and the small robot that was sat in front of her. "Uhm… yeah, I guess that’s ok?" She said giving Peter a once over.

"Thanks so much, I'll be super quick."

Peter grabbed the holo-table and unclicked the brake on the wheels and pushed it back over to his friends and Flash. Flash's confident smirk fell as Peter pulled the table to a stop in front of them. More of the class had joined the group, even some of the other interns had joined in to see what was happening.

"That's Peter Parker, right?" Peter's Spidey sense picked up on the whispers as word floated around the lab and everyone seemed to stop their work to turn their attention to him. Peter hadn't known he was so high profile at SI. "I think so." Someone else whispered back but Peter turned his attention away from them and focused on the people directly in front of him and the holo-table awaiting his command.

"Hey Karen." Peter said somewhat reluctantly.

"Hello Peter." Karen replied through the overhead speakers.

"Can you please access holo-table AC18530D?" Peter said, reading out the identification number of the table before him.

"Of course." Karen said and the holo-table burst to life a moment later with Peter's SI files. He quickly flicked through them, hiding any that seemed suspicious. Luckily, Peter enjoyed giving his files code names so he was confident that nothing about 'Lazarus' or 'Rogue One' would seem out of the ordinary on the surface, despite the secrets that they actually held.

"Can you bring up videos from the shock web prototype 3.5?" Peter asked. The prototype was one of the first things that he had worked on at SI. Peter knew that his suit had hundreds of web combinations and he had slowly been working through them, picking them apart, trying to understand how they worked and then making any changes for ease of use. At the moment his shocker webs needed the time to charge before he could use them so he had proposed creating webs infused with electricity that could deliver three different degrees of electric shocks to opponents… or you know, if he needed to turn the light on or something.

"Right away." Karen said and the files flashed past as she brought up the video he was looking for.

Peter looked directly at Flash when he next spoke. "When I first started at SI, the main projects I was working on was stuff to do with the Avengers, yes I know Flash you find it unbelievable. I don't know what other proof I can give you aside from this."

Peter hit pulled up the video that Karen had found for him and opened it into full screen in front of his classmates. He hit the play button.

"Alright Karen," a two years younger Peter said, peering down the camera lens. "Is this thing recording?"

"Yes Peter." Karen's voice replied in the recording.

"Ok shock web prototype 3.5. I have increased the energy capacity of the web fluid and fused it into a Vibranium infused capsule," Peter held up one of the little black cases that he used to store his webs on the suit. "This is," he glanced down off screen at his notes and sighed, "trial 5."

A contraption was set up on the table to Peter's right, with one stand holding a capsule of webs ready to shoot and the other stand, about three feet away propping up a lightbulb and voltmeter.

"And go." Peter said pressing a button down and stepping back quickly. The past trials had resulted in a variety of explosions and very nearly singed eyebrows.

The web hit the electrical output and the lightbulb lit up immediately and within seconds it had exploded.

"Yikes." Peter looking at the glass on the floor.

"Please don't try and pick it up with your hands again, Peter." Karen reminded him. "Mr Stark has asked me to remind you of lab etiquette and safety."

"Yeah, yeah Mr Stark blah blah." Peter said bending down and retrieving the shards anyway.

"You just picked the glass up didn't you." Karen said and Peter grinned.

"Whattt." He replied innocently, dumping them in a bin somewhere out of view.

"Fast forward three minutes please." Peter told Karen and she obliged, skipping through the video. The next shot was of Peter attaching a web shooter to his wrist and aiming it at a new lightbulb.

"Trial 6." His past self said. This time, when the web hit the source, the light bulb only glowed brightly and didn't explode. "That's more like it, now I just need to test this on someone!"

"I don't believe that is ethical Peter." Karen said, sounding as concerned as an AI could be.

"I know, I know… but it’s only the lowest level shock, more like a prank really." Peter said unclipping the web shooter and returning it to the table. "Although I don't think Vision would mind, it would probably give him a bit of a boost."

"Would you like me to contact Vision?" Karen asked helpfully.

"Oh god no please don't, that’d be embarrassing." He said beginning to pack his equipment up. "I'm so glad I have these working now Karen! They're going to be so useful, I'm gonna be-"

"And stop!" Peter said hastily, not letting his past self finish the sentence, which, if he remembered correctly, ended with 'I'm gonna be just like Thor next time Mr Stark has a mission for us'. Peter could explain a lot of things but that was not one of them.

Peter shut the holo-table down and cleared any traces of his files from it before looking up to see the reaction of his classmates.

"I think that's pretty good proof, don't you Flash?" MJ said crossing her arms and turning to the bully.

Flash, to his credit, was still holding his head high. "Whatever Parker, so you did a couple of science projects, no biggie."

"There's just no winning with you Flash, is there?" Peter said, trying not to clench his teeth in frustration as he turned to return the holo-table back over to its owner.

At least some of his other classmates seemed surprised, some of them even had their mouths open in astonishment…

Peter quickly realised that their attention, and furthermore their surprise, was no longer directed at him as all the students turned their head to the doors to 4c which had just opened.

"Ms Potts…" Peter said quietly staring at the CEO of Stark Industries.

“Mr Parker.” Pepper said, her impeccable poker face making her unreadable.

“Hi…” Peter said, not liking how his voice squeaked a little. He was really happy to see her the CEO again but the look on her face had him worried.

“Come with me.” She said sternly, nodding her head to the door. Peter balked but eventually managed to force his legs to move past his classmates.

Was he in trouble?

Chapter Text

Peter tried to avoid his classmates' gaze as he slowly made his way over to the CEO of Stark Industries. He had been looking forward to catching up with Pepper, Morgan and Happy but it seemed she had other plans. Peter wasn't entirely sure what he'd done to earn such a cold reaction from her, but he had an inkling it might have something to do with him sneaking the iron spider suit into SI earlier that morning. Not that Peter bringing his spidey suit to work had ever been a problem before.

"Peter!" A little voice cried and the sound of small shoes could be heard tapping against the polished floor of the lab. As Peter slowly rounded the group of students and interns he came face to face with Morgan Stark.

"Oh hey!" Peter said immediately breaking into a smile and dropping to his knees to hug Morgan once she reached him. "How you doing kiddo?"

"Good." Morgan replied sweetly, hugging Peter back.

Growing up Peter had never had the experience of having a younger sibling, or even cousins, given that May had never had kids. Though he had only met Morgan a few times, Peter already doted on her like an older brother. The first time they had met at the funeral, Peter hadn't been able to keep himself together knowing that Morgan was going to have to grow up without her dad. Peter had gone through that first hand and knew how difficult it was and he was determined to be there to help if Morgan needed him.

"Morgan." Pepper said sighing, her poker face dropping immediately in favour of fond exasperation. Peter looked up at the CEO again and took in her all black attire, a clear mark of the tragedy she was still recovering from. Peter couldn't help noticing the faint bags under her eyes and the red that rimmed her eyelids. It seemed the last month hadn’t treated her well. Knowing that Pepper was here at SI helping the rest of the world get back on its feet even though she had just lost a core part of her world filled Peter with endless admiration.

A couple of quiet 'aww's had broken out amongst Peter's classmates as Morgan took his hand in her small one and dragged him over to her Mom.

"Sweetie, Mommy said to wait outside with Happy." Pepper said taking Morgan's other hand once the two had reached her.

"But Happy said I could come in and see Peter." Morgan said beaming up at Peter.

"Of course, he did," Pepper said shaking her head, "Abigail, Mr Harrington, please excuse Peter until lunch, I have a few things to discuss with him regarding his internship.

Peter glanced at his teacher whose eyes were flicking between Peter and the CEO, betraying the confusion he was obviously experiencing. "Of course, we'll see him again at lunch time then…" Mr Harrington said slowly, trailing off.

Deciding that the adults had finished their business, Morgan took the lead and pulled Pepper and Peter behind her as they left the lab.

"Sorry if I was a bit cold back there Peter," Pepper said once they were clear of the lab, she let go of Morgan's hand and pulled Peter in for a warm hug.

"Oh, it's no worries at all." Peter said returning the hug with one arm, given that his other hand was still held in Morgan's tight grip.

Pepper drew back again, "I had Friday keep an eye on you and it seemed that you were having a few issueswith some of your classmates. Particularly, after that run in with Dr Banner, Ms Maximoff and the Princess of Wakanda, I don't know why they had to stop at that floor, they should have just come straight up to the lab… Anyway," Pepper sighed, "I figured me coming in and acting all friendly wouldn't really help things if you're still trying to fly under the radar re the whole Spider-Man thing. But little Morgan had other ideas." Pepper said taking her daughter's hand again and squeezing it.

Before Peter could reply he was clapped on the back by the strong hand of Happy Hogan.

"Happy!" Peter said, not realising how relieved he was to see his 'babysitter' again, though it had been little more than a month since their last encounter.

"It's good to see you kid." Happy admitted with a smile, quite unlike the unbothered front he used to put up around Peter.

"Let's head up to my office and we can talk more there." Pepper said calling an elevator down. It arrived within seconds and the four of them got on.

"I'm hungry." Morgan said rubbing at her eyes.

"There's food up in Mommy's office, we'll get you something tasty." Pepper assured, smoothing Morgan's hair down and tucking it behind the little girl's ear.

"So how you been kid?" Happy said turning to Peter and leaning casually against the glass interior of the elevator.

"Oh, you know." Peter said shrugging, "I'm getting by, trying to do homework again, thinking about the future and where I am going for college. Those sorts of things." He knew that Happy was probably fishing for a deeper answer to his question but didn't seem inclined to push Peter any further. "What about you?"

"Eh," Happy said shrugging. "Helping out where I can, sometimes I'm at SI, sometimes I'm babysitting squirt here," he said looking fondly at Morgan, "other times I'm doing recon with the Avengers. It's all Pepper though."

"You're very helpful Happy." Pepper said smiling.

"I feel like I should be doing more…" Peter said, his voice strained as he looked at his feet. "But after everything that's happened, I just haven't been able to bring myself to…" He didn't like how quickly he was ready to fall apart as he let the sentence die off and tried to breath slowly.

"You did so much, Peter." Pepper said smiling sorrowfully and taking a deep breath. "We're all just trying to do our best, sometimes that's all we can manage."

Peter swallowed and nodded, looking down at his feet once more. He wasn't sure how much Morgan understood of their conversation, but she seemed to feel the sorrow that was now emanating from the group. To fill the silence she started to chatter, telling Peter about one of her toys that she had pulled apart and put back together again. There was definitely a large part of Tony in her.

Eventually the elevator reached Pepper's office on the top floor of the building and the four of them got out.

"I hope you don’t mind me pulling you out of the tour, I figured you've probably heard and seen a lot of what they were talking about anyway." Pepper said walking across the open plan office space towards her desk which looked out over a stunning view of New York City. Happy took Morgan off to the kitchenette in search of the food she had been promised.

"Oh no it's completely fine." Peter replied following Pepper. "This gives me a break from some of the uncomfortable questions I've been getting today too." He'd no doubt have more once he returned though.

"From what I saw on the feed they were more like accusations." Pepper mused, shifting a few files on her desk as she searched for something. "I saw what Wanda Maximoff did to one of your classmates, I only hope that he doesn't make it into a problem."

He deserved it though. Peter had to bite his tongue from saying that out loud, he really didn't want to say anything that would disappoint Ms Potts. Implying that a weak and defenceless human like Flash deserved an ass kicking from the Scarlet Witch, no matter how much Peter would have paid to see it, wasn't right. Right?

"He won't cause any problems, he's probably too embarrassed about it anyway." Peter assured her.

"Let's hope so." Pepper said absentmindedly as she continued to search through the papers on her desk before picking up a faded envelope with scrawled writing on the front.

"Is this about what you mentioned in your email?" Peter asked, his curiosity besting him.

"It is." Pepper said extending the envelope to him.

Peter took it in both hands, it was too heavy to just hold paper but from the outside it didn't seem to be anything more than an ordinary envelope. There was one odd thing that Peter noticed as he held it in his hands. It was old. The corners were slightly worn as though it had been handled a fair bit. The writing on the front, Peter's name and address, was slightly faded as though it had been written a long time ago.

"What is this?" Peter asked, shadowing Pepper's movements as she walked over to the window and turned her gaze out to the overcast skyline. The clouds had hung over New York for the last three days though it seemed that there was finally a bit of sun starting to creep through the dense, grey cover.

"A gift," Pepper said quietly, folding her hands before her, "from Tony. He meant to give it to you for your 19th birthday but then the Snap happened and… well he never got the chance."

Peter looked down at the envelope and turned it over in his hands, feeling the frayed corners. It seemed uncharacteristic of Mr Stark to write a letter so Peter wondered what on earth the envelope could contain, it had to be important for them to have kept it for five years.

"Go ahead and open it." Pepper prompted.

Peter did so, slipping a finger under the flap in the corner and tugging the paper apart gently. It tore easily and Peter carefully shook the contents out onto his palm. A thin, shimmery card, a slip of paper and a SI hard drive tumbled out.

"A clearance card…?" Peter said in confusion, picking up the first item that drew his attention.  "But Mr Stark gave me a Platinum X card for my 18th birthday."

"This one is different, specially made, it's one of a kind."

Peter held the card up to the light and admired it. It was indeed different from his current clearance card. There were no details embellished on it, no ID number or clearance level. There was however, the Spider-Man symbol on one side of the card and it shifted depending on how you tilted it, making the spider seem almost holographic. Peter flipped the card over and sighed sorrowfully. The Avengers logo took up the back of it with a glittery red and blue finish.

"There was a letter with that as well, but Tony burnt it after the Decimation." Pepper said quietly. "He almost snapped the card too, but I don't think he could bring himself to do it."

"I don't understand." Peter said, his voice thick, he hadn't realised he'd been getting emotional. "This? What is this? What does it open?"

"Check the piece of paper." Pepper said indicating the slip of paper that had fallen out of the envelope but not answering any of Peter's questions.

Peter picked it up and turned it over.  The date '21 April 2023' followed by 'level 27' was written messily, as though it had been done in a hurry.

Peter turned his attention to the third and heaviest item. The hard drive. It was a simple black drive but had a piece of paper stuck on its back with sticky tape that read 'PETER PARKER' in capital letters. Peter frowned in confusion and bit his lip.

"Still don't understand?" Pepper said smiling in sad amusement.

"Not quite." Peter said looking back at the piece of paper. The 21st of April was just over a month ago but what was so significant about that date? Level 27? Peter wasn't sure he had ever had any reason to go to level 27.

"He wanted to show you round himself but since that's not possible now I'm guessing that there is some sort of explanation for you saved under that date." Pepper explained turning away from the window. "Head down to 27. The key card is designed specifically for your use on that level and at the moment none of the other employees have been granted access."

Peter remained standing by the window and looking at the dated piece of paper a moment longer. "Tony was confusing at times but I know he would have wanted you to have this no matter what. Go down to 27, have a look around and then we can talk later about your future at Stark Industries and potentially your future role in the Avengers too." Pepper told him.

"And the hard drive?" Peter asked holding the object up in his hand and turning it over.

"You'll understand everything down there." Pepper said shepherding Peter towards the lift.

"Ok…" Peter said quietly, walking with her. He turned his attention to the key card again and flipped it over a few times, marvelling at how the light danced on its shimmery red and blue surface.

"Take your time and when you're ready head back down to get some food, we'll see you again later at the memorial." Pepper said pressing the button for the elevator. Peter craned his neck to try and catch a glimpse of Happy and Morgan before he left. "Don't worry, they'll both be there this evening." Pepper assured him warmly.

"Alright, thank you." He said looking up at Pepper one last time before he got into the elevator.

"Oh, and try not to blow anything up while you're down there ok? We'll need to run through all the safety protocols as well, if you decide to start working with us." Pepper said cryptically.

"Umm ok." Peter said nervously, his voice cracking slightly. What on earth was there to blow up on level 27?

The elevator doors slid shut and a bot spoke up from the receiver to his right, "Please input level."

Peter looked down at the slip of paper that he had clasped in his hand and shrugged. "27?"

"Please scan the appropriate identification." The panel on the side of the elevator lit up, indicating where Peter should scan his card.

Out of habit Peter immediately retrieved his Platinum X card from his pocket and scanned it. The panel flashed red, denying the access card. Peter frowned, that had never happened before… unless…

Peter waved his new Avengers x Spider-Man card in front of the scanner and this time it flashed an affirming green.

"What the heck." He mumbled, returning both key cards to his pocket. He then thought better of it and put them in the envelope along with the hard drive and put it in his backpack’s front pocket for safe keeping. Ned was going to lose his absolute mind when Peter told him all about this later.

Peter felt the unpleasant feeling of his stomach dropping as the elevator went down.  He bounced on the balls of his feet nervously as he watched the screen above the door counting, 33….32…. There were only six levels that it had to go and soon the elevator came to a stop at level 27.

"Welcome Spider-Man." The elevator bot said as the doors opened. Peter jumped in surprise, that had definitelynever happened before.

"Hello?" He asked hesitantly, looking at the corridor that now stretched out in front of him, the only way in or out of the elevator.

Naturally there was no answer. Feeling that he had no other choice and slightly overwhelmed with curiosity, Peter strode quietly towards the door situated at the end, his sneakers whispering against the white floors. He thought about retrieving his ear piece from his bag so that he could talk to Karen but decided he was being a baby and didn't need the comfort that the AI probably would have provided. Besides, she was no doubt observing what was happening from the security cameras positioned in the corners of the hallway.

"Please state your full name." A bot asked when he tried to open the imposing stainless-steel door.

"Peter Parker?" Peter said thinking how MJ probably would have teased him for the way he managed to make his own name sound like it were a question.

Slowly, and somewhat ominously, the door slid open. Peter breathed in deeply, noticing how the air felt different behind the door. It seemed old and undisturbed and he could almost smell the thick dust already. Whatever stretched beyond the doorway was somewhat difficult to tell. Even with his enhanced sight the room extended so far and faded into such deep darkness that Peter struggled to make out anything past the first 7 feet.

Peter stood up to the threshold and strained his ears, listening for any sign that the room was otherwise occupied. He relaxed a little after a few seconds, finding relief in the fact that he was truly alone. He loved being around his friends and May but there was definitely a part of him that had missed having some alone time to think this last month. He'd always gotten that little bit of solitude through being Spider-Man as he watched over the city at night when he did his rounds. But that was before, and this was now. Peter turned his attention to the situation at hand.

As he stepped over the threshold, he triggered a censor above the doorway that resulted in all the lights being turned on. Peter heard the hum of energy in the walls as it coursed towards the overhead lights. He quickly raised a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light above that made the corridor behind him seem positively dark in comparison.

Peter expected to be met with the same, insistent ringing sound of the fluorescent lighting strips that he was all too familiar with at SI. Instead the lighting was somehow softer, and while he could still hear the electricity thrumming through the room, it was a lot easier to block out. For some reason the type of lights in this room were different to the rest of SI.

As Peter tried to take in the room before him, he felt his stomach drop to the floor.

The entire left wing of level 27 appeared to be open plan, Peter could see it stretching around the corner of the wall he was standing in front of. The space was wide and open unlike the rest of Stark Industries that was divided into labs and corridors and conference spaces. Peter ran his eyes from the wall all the way on his left over to the floor to ceiling windows, currently shielded by thick black-out blinds. The main feature of the room he was looking at was the work space, defined by the rubbery black mat it was built around, reminding Peter of Mr Stark's lab which he had got to work in a few times. The black mat always made Peter feel like he was bouncing when he walked but it was actually so that the floor beneath didn't get damaged, the bouncing was an added perk though. Though Mr Stark hadn't really been pleased by Peter jumping around the testing area. Dotted around and on the workspace were long metal benches and holo-tables, some covered with dusty plastic sheeting as though they had never been used. Over to Peter's right was a sort of living space with two long couches, a coffee table and a huge flat screen television, again, all of it was covered up to protect it from the dust.

One part of the space drew Peter's attention above all else and he strode over to the back of the room. Against the wall stood three large cases that reminded Peter of the one's he had seen Mr Stark keep the Iron Man suits in. Peter reached up hesitantly, glancing behind him though he knew that there was no one else in the room with him. Peter grabbed a corner of the plastic sheet covering the third case and tugged firmly, sending it cascading to the ground along with what seemed to be a year’s worth of dust. Peter coughed and waved a hand before his face, so he didn't inhale any more than he had to.

Peter tried not to gape at what the case was holding. It was an entirely black, combat looking suit with two eyes on the headpiece. Peter tilted his head, there was no arachnid that marked the suit as a Spider-Man suit but those eyes were definitely-

"File name: 21st April 2023." A disembodied voice said from built in speakers in the roof above Peter's head, cutting off his train of thought.

Peter spun around to see that a large holo-table, at least two times the size of the ones the interns used, was lit up with a blue file waiting to be opened. Peter walked around to the other side of the table and set his backpack down at its foot. Glancing at the piece of paper he was still holding he confirmed that the date was indeed the same, 21 April 2023. Hesitantly, he extended a hand and opened the file.

Peter yelled in surprise and jumped back, falling to the grown as the hologram burst to life.

Tony Stark was now leaning casually against the holo-table.  

"Mr Stark?" Peter said, his voice cracking with emotion as he slowly picked himself up. Hologram Tony wasn't moving but was looking down at his hands folded before him.

"Hey kid…. Hey Peter." Tony began after a few seconds and looked up to somewhere past Peter's head. "I don't know if you'll ever get to see this."

Tony paused thoughtfully and then shook his head, "Hell, I don't even know why I'm filming this video… I'm probably just being paranoid." Tony rubbed at his eyes with the palm of his hand and sighed, he seemed tired, older. "What do I even say?"

Peter scrunched his hands into fists to keep them from shaking as he hung onto everyone word that the recording of Tony said.

"It has been five years… things are very different now. I'm so sorry kid. I - I never thought that it would end this way, I never meant for-" Tony broke off abruptly and looked down at his hands again, seemingly collecting his thoughts before speaking again. He sighed loudly and pushed himself off the holo-table.

"What am I talking about right now…. Yes right, the Lab. This whole space was supposed to be for you. Uhh… surprise?" Tony said gesturing behind him with little enthusiasm.

Peter's resolve was beginning to crack, and he could feel his eyes pricking as tears threatened to spill over.

"I was going to ask you to come work here at SI, at least part time while you were at college, maybe we'd get you in on the whole Avengers gig too? And that hard drive? All of my work since ‘08 is stored on it so look after it and don't go showing it off to your friend… Nick? Niall?" He waved a hand dismissively.

"If you're watching this video it means that something happened to me which is why I can't be here to show you round myself- who am I kidding… everything is going to be fine." Tony said, more to himself than the camera that was recording the message. He nodded firmly.

Peter gave up and let the tears trickle down his cheeks, one hand pressed against his mouth to silence sobs.

"We’re gonna try something crazy kid… I don't know if it's going to work and I gotta be honest with you… I'm scared."

Tony was quiet for a moment and looked down at the floor before speaking again. "You know that photo we took together for the internship? Well I picked it up again a few days ago and it all sort of hit me. I've been so, so lucky these last five years. Luckier than most. But looking at that photo… it just made me realise that I have a responsibility to do whatever I can to bring you back, if we have a chance, even a tiny change to bring everyoneback then we have to try. Whatever it takes."

"Mr Stark." Peter said wiping at his cheeks and hiccupping slightly. "You should've just stayed with you family, now they're all here but you're not and Morgan is going to have to grow up without you and-"

Peter was interrupted as the recording proceeded. "The thing is… even though I have my family here I know that there are plenty out there that are divided and broken. Hell, even though you could be a real pain in the ass sometimes you were a really great kid Peter. Oh god here I am getting all sentimental, who would've thought." Tony said frowning. "Point is… we have to do this. We have to try. And I'm probably over-thinking this all and it'll all turn out well and we'll bring everyone back and I'll delete this stupid recording and be able to show you the lab myself. You'll be able to meet Morgan, god she'd really like you." Tony mused, resting his chin on his hand and smiling to himself.

Peter's resolve had well and truly broken and he was now crying quietly. He crossed his arms in front of his chest in a weak attempt to contain the sound. The crying won out and he let out a heaving sob as his breathing hiccupped irregularly. God… he hadn't cried like this since the day it happened.

"But… you know just in case I don't- if something goes wrong or- if I'm not there… I want you to know that what you're doing… it's all enough. My dad never told me that, and I really needed to hear it, so hell maybe you do to." Tony paused after that and stared at the ground thoughtfully before looking up again. When he did, Peter, though his view was significantly obscured by tears, felt as though his mentor's eyes were looking directly at him and it only made him cry more.

It wasn't fair. Everyone else gotten their loved ones back but Tony wasn't here to see it. Peter's heart ached for Morgan and Pepper and Colonel Rhodes and Happy and Harley.

"You're good enough, kid." Tony said simply shrugging.

Peter's heart ached for every single person that had needed Tony Stark in their life, including himself. He cried because he'd never get to see Tony again. He'd never be able to go to Tony with dumb questions about science or slightly more serious moral dilemmas about being a superhero. Peter had lost the one person who truly understood him, both his brain and his alter ego. He'd lost the one person he'd wanted to make proud above all others, not just as Peter Parker but as Spider-Man.

"I know I could be harsh on you. But you've always been enough, I hope you know that kid. I know this super-hero thing can be a lot but no matter what, you areready to be an Avenger… I feel it, " Tony tapped at his heart earnestly.

"But I'm not.' Peter said through tears. He tilted his head back, trying to force his sobbing to stop. He was so sick of being sad and wanting to cry all the time. Peter hated being in this weird limbo of happy and sad where he could laugh easily at a joke but then feel so hopeless a moment later. He hated feeling like he was constantly on the brink of breaking. He'd give anything to go back to life five years ago, hell he'd probably even rather go back to life before the Avengers, before he met Tony and before that damned spider bit him.

"I'm sure things aren't ideal right now but know that whatever life throws at you, you have the strength to get through it all, no matter what I know you-"

Peter lunged forward and paused the video not able to listen to it any more. They were the words of a dead man talking to a past version of Peter. Things were different now.

Peter took a few deep breaths and bit at his lip so hard that he wondered if he had drawn blood. The tears had stopped but they had only been replaced by a deep, exhausting ache that made him want to lie down and go to sleep.

Peter looked back at the holo-table and sighed. He shut the video down and turned the table off, retrieving his backpack from the side. He was angry. He hadn't felt angry like this in a long time. But he couldn’t help it. He didn't need any of those fancy words, as comforting as they were… he just needed Tony here to tell him in person that everything was going to be alright.

Peter didn't want to be in the lab any longer. It wasn't his. Not now. He didn't want… or deserve it.

He turned away from the holo-table and made to walk for the exit but stopped as he felt the weight of his bag bumping against his back.

With a burst of irrationality, Peter stalked over to the glass cases he had been looking at and pressed the touch pad on one of the empty ones. He pushed the open button and it hissed slightly as the glass slid back. Peter tore at the zip on his bag, lucky he didn't carelessly tear it off, and pulled the iron spider suit out.

He wasn't sure what he was doing anymore. Everything was so confusing at the moment and he had no idea what direction his life was going in. Before the Snap he had had all these amazing plans and different paths he could choose, but now he wasn't sure what to do. It was all too confusing and overwhelming and carrying this suit in his bag just made him feel like a fraud. Why had he even brought it with him today?

Peter pushed the suit onto a similar metal stand as the one that supported the black suit to his left and somehow the contraption locked the suit in with a click. Peter let go and watched as the suit unfurled into its full form and the glass hissed shut in front of it.

He stood before the case a moment longer, looking at the metal red and black suit.

"Peter…" Karen's voice said through the speakers, it seemed she had been observing what had been happening in the lab. "Peter, listen-"

"I'm sorry Karen but please just leave me alone." Peter said tiredly, righting his bag on his back and stomping towards the exit. "I really don't want to be lectured right now."

"As you wish." He heard her say as he left the lab, the door sliding shut firmly behind him.

"Hey Peter, what floor can I take you to?" Friday asked, surprising him once he had made it into the elevator and scanned his Platinum X card.

"7." He said flatly. He might as well get lunch now.

"Sure thing."

Peter sighed and let his body fall against the side of the elevator. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and tried to get a grip. Why was he letting himself fall apart like this? He'd been keeping it together for a month and one stupid video was all it took for him to break.

"What am I doing?" He said to himself, his voice thick from all the crying. Peter closed his eyes and pressed his head against the cold glass of the elevator wall.

"Can I be of service?" Friday asked in response.

"No that's ok, just talking to myself." Peter said shaking his head and opening his eyes again, they were no doubt puffy and red now.

"Anything you need Peter, just let me know." 

"Thanks Friday." Peter said getting out at level 7 and looking down the corridor to where the communal lunch area was for SI. He really didn't feel like facing anyone at the moment. He just wanted to go home, sleep for a bit, maybe watch Star Wars with Ned, maybe ask MJ to dinner if he was feeling particularly brave… just normal things. He could do normal, he'd been so good at normal. Just look how normal he'd been in the last month!

Peter gathered his thoughts and headed reluctantly for the cafeteria. He was really starting to feel tired now, as though all the energy had been drained from him. He was well and truly exhausted, at least in the emotional sense.

Peter reached to open the door to the cafeteria and jumped when it was pushed outwards by someone leaving.

"What the heck." Flash said almost walking into Peter. "What's up Parker, finished getting fired from your internship?"

"Please, not right now Flash." Peter said quietly, not bothering to come up with a retort. What crappy timing, of course Flash was leaving just in time for Peter to bump into him as he arrived.

"Oh, get off your high horse-" Flash began and then caught sight of Peter's face, which must have looked a good deal worse than Peter had thought. "Oh…. Um are you ok?" Flash asked uncomfortably.

"I'm fine." Peter snapped turning his eyes away.

"Are you sure? Do you need me to-" Flash began, his tone so reluctant that it somehow made Peter feel bad, though he had no reason to.

"I said I'm fine." Peter said angrily and pushed past Flash into the cafeteria.

Peter took a deep, calming breath. All he had to do was get through the rest of this day. Finish the tour, attend the memorial tonight and then he would finally be able to rest.

Chapter Text

Peter stepped into the bustling cafeteria, the force of the heavy door that swung closed behind him ruffling his hair. He took a deep breath and after a quick scan of the room, identified Ned and MJ who were seated, luckily, at an empty table by the window. Determined to avoid the stares and whispers of the rest of his classmates, Peter walked swiftly in the direction of his friends. With each step he pushed the thoughts of the lab on Level 27 further and further from his mind.

Peter was fairly familiar with the cafeteria on floor 7, having spent many a lunch time down here with some of the other interns. Conversations had often centred around the surprisingly good food that was served, bumps they had run into in their experimentation or complaints about the restrictions placed around their projects. Peter had found the cafeteria a fun and laid-back place to relax with the other interns in between research and experimentation. They'd often had dares going on such as who could sweat talk the cooks into giving them an extra serving or who could design a gadget that would raid the vending machines near the drink fountain.

Though Peter tried to keep his eyes to the ground as he walked swiftly over to Ned's table, he subconsciously took in his surroundings. He spotted Daniel over on one of the tables with some of the interns, his eyes trained on Peter in concern. Midtown took up three tables, but the rest were largely occupied by high school students like himself but wearing two different sets of uniform blazers. Peter didn't recognise either.

Peter shied away from the eyes of his classmates and anyone else who had looked up at his entrance. All their eyes made him antsy and he almost missed the quiet seclusion of the lab he had just been in. His lab… no, Peter corrected himself, no it wasn't.

'But you've always been enough'

Peter squirmed slightly as Mr Stark's words rang through his head as he walked through the tables.

The rest of the occupants of the cafeteria chatted on unbeknownst to the attention that Peter was getting as he tugged his backpack closer to his back. Though the iron spider suit had been fairly lightweight, he already found himself missing the assurance and comfort it had provided. Had he made the wrong choice? He cast the thought from his mind as he took a seat next to Ned and across from MJ.

Ned, oh so reliable Ned, had gotten Peter his serving of lunch already. Peter managed a small smile when he saw the food, Friday's had always been curry days at Stark Industries. It seemed some things never changed.

"Everything ok, Peter?" Ned said quietly, looking concerned.

"Not really." Peter said honestly, sighing as he picked up his spoon. "I'll tell you… sometime." Peter loved being able to share the superhero part of his world with Ned. But there were some things that he just couldn't explain in a way that Ned would truly understand. The bond he'd had with Mr Stark was one of those things.

"Alright, whatever you need just let me know." Ned said smiling warmly and putting an arm around Peter in a sort of half hug.

"Thanks buddy." Peter said, trying to smile. He didn't like how strained his voice sounded, as though he were about to fall apart all over again.

Peter swallowed and looked down at his curry, pushing it around his plate with the spoon. He'd always looked forward to the Fridays he'd spent at Stark Industries because they had usually turned into weekend trips that May hadn’t always been wholly in support of. May really didn’t like it when Peter missed school. Peter would spend the three days researching and experimenting and sleeping in the spare room in the private Stark quarters up on the floor below the CEO's office. He'd have dinners with Tony sometimes, and Pepper if she was free but other times it would just be him and Happy. Peter had fond memories of the time that Tony had tried to cook a lasagne for dinner and had ended up setting off the fire alarm and had to explain to Friday that there was no need to contact emergency services. Both Peter and Friday had been sworn to secrecy to never tell Pepper about the disaster evening.

Peter would spend the days learning as much as he could and always dreading the arrival of Sunday night which marked his return to his ordinary life as a high schooler. On rare occasions he would be able to convince May that his time at SI was a better for his future than classes were, and she'd let him take Monday off as well. Peter felt a lump forming in his throat and in the interests of preserving his dignity, he cast the memories to the side and focused on what he was eating.

Peter glanced up from his food as he caught Ned surreptitiously sliding an apple flavoured juice pouch over to his plate. Peter raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Whattt." Ned said shrugging and zipping up his backpack which was under the table, not before Peter caught sight of four other identical juices. "They had them with the food, do you know how long it has been since I had one of these? I know you like them, you can't hide anything from me."

"Thanks." Peter said, managing a smile.

Peter unwrapped the straw and poked the juice pouch open, sniffing as he did. He should have stopped at a bathroom to grab some tissues and at least wash his face; all that crying had left his nose running and eyes sore. He sighed and sniffed again. He was tired but at least he was feeling a little hungry now, that was a good sign. With each mouthful of curry Peter tried to push the memories of Mr Stark further from his mind. He hoped that Karen wasn't angry with him for snapping at her and walking out of the lab like that. Could machines sulk? He wouldn't put it past her.

Peter sniffed again and rubbed at his eyes, scowling as he did so. It was so damn obvious that he had been crying.

Peter rested his cheek on one of his hands as he pushed the curry around his plate, taking a mouthful every now and then. Ned seemed to notice that Peter needed distracting and started to tell him about some of the intern's projects they had seen, including what Ned described as ‘mind-controlled drones’ - Peter wished that he'd had the chance to talk to the intern responsible for that project.

Peter listened to Ned's talking and nodded and made noises of agreement where it was appropriate. He let himself get lost in Ned's version of events of Flash being humiliated by one of the interns, a thrilling tale that Peter wished he had more energy to pay attention to.

MJ began fishing through her backpack, eventually pulling out her sketch book - the one that Peter had seen her use time and time again to sketch 'people in crisis' as she so liked to call it. Peter wondered how often he featured in it. Did she ever draw herself? Peter doubted it, MJ had always seemed so cool under pressure, he couldn’t imagine her ever reacting badly to a crisis. It did make him wonder how she had settled in after the Snap, he barely knew anything about her family or whether they had been dusted in the Decimation.

MJ discarded her notebook however and kept looking around in her bag, eventually pulling out a pack of tissues and throwing them at Peter. It wasn't the best of throws and would have gone well over his shoulder if it weren't for his Spidey senses. He caught the small plastic packet in two fingers and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You look like you need them." MJ said shrugging and opening her sketch book up.

"Thanks…?" Peter said and then turned to Ned to whisper, "Do I really look that bad?"

"It's not great." Ned said looking over Peter's face once.

"Great." Peter whispered, pulling a tissue out and dabbing at his nose. "I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

"Sure thing." Ned said taking another bite of curry and craning his head to try and get a look at who MJ was sketching. She frowned and turned the sketch book further away from him.

Peter slipped his hands into his pockets and ducked around tables and exiting the cafeteria quickly. He needed to splash his face with some water, maybe blow his nose and try and put himself back together again.

Once Peter was out in the corridor, he noticed a group of five students from one of the other high schools gathered outside the elevators. Two guys, three girls, all dressed in purple and green blazers. Peter thought about stopping but decided it was none of his business and continued onwards to the bathroom at the end of the corridor. Their visitor level clearance cards wouldn't get them anywhere anyways. Peter had already entered the bathroom before he could see Daniel join their entourage.

"Welcome to the 18th Level museum," Abigail said spreading her arms out behind her as the group entered the enormous space. "Stark Industries New York headquarters is the only one with such a display, it's one of a kind. For the next two hours you are going to be able to walk around the exhibits, look at our history and in groups of four we will be inviting you to test out some old models."

Abigail reached into her bag and pulled out a set of folded maps and began handing them out in bundles for the students to share amongst themselves. "These are maps to all the displays. The museum is divided into three spaces, in the south wing you will find the history of SI from Howard Stark until the present, the west wing holds most of our Avenger artefacts." excited murmurs broke out throughout the group.

"This space we are currently in is dedicated to the late Mr Stark's work post his accident in 2008. The actual replicas and models that you'll get the chance to experiment with are kept over that way," Abigail said gesturing to her right, past glass cases and information boards, "in the east wing."

The students had started chattering in excitement with several making a break from the group and drifting towards the east wing, hoping to be the first to try out some of the old prototypes.

"When we are done here you willbe required to walk through another detector so please do not try and remove any artefact from the museum as our AI system will immediately alert us and we will have to contact the authorities." Abigail said sternly but stepped aside to allow the eager students to rush forward and look at the exhibits.

Peter looked at Ned who had opened up his map and was struggling to decide where he wanted to go first.

"Where do you want to start?" Peter prompted, looking around the museum space and wondering how they were supposed to spend two hours here.

"I don't even know." Ned said shaking his head. From the excitement clear on Ned’s face it seemed that he would have no trouble finding ways to entertain himself.

"We could just start at the beginning." Peter shrugged, indicating the south wing which was home to the original history of SI. It seemed a safe enough place to start that hopefully wouldn't dredge up many memories for Peter.

"Good idea." Ned said nodding and started off in that direction.

Any other time and Peter probably would have enjoyed looking around the museum. He had heard about it but had never actually ventured to the 18th level himself. He wished that he could feel a little more engaged with the exhibits, but it was difficult considering the way his thoughts kept annoyingly returning to the lab ten floors above them. Peter found the best way to keep his mind off it all was to just not think about anything. He followed Ned around to each case, read the information on the boards but didn't really absorb any of it, and just let Ned go about his business. Sometimes Ned asked Peter questions, particularly when they arrived at the Avengers wing and Ned found a small case dedicated to Peter's own superhero alias.

"This is part of your first suit, right?" Ned asked, his voice hushed so that MJ, just a few feet away and reading about Black Widow’s bulletproof suit, didn’t hear them.

"Yep." Peter said sighing and looking at his deconstructed Spider-Man suit. He'd agreed to let Tony display some of his first designs as well as elements of the first prototype. As a rule, the museum didn't display any full suits that were in working condition because it was a security threat. Thus, the only parts of the suit that were displayed were some models of his web shooters and his old mask and eye goggles.

"Cool." Ned whispered and snapped a few photos, it made Peter smile. Ned had seen his suit before, and he’d seen the newer, better suit that Mr Stark had designed, yet this stuff still made him excited.

Peter followed Ned over to the huge case that held designs for Captain America's suit and shield. Peter's heartstrings were tugged at yet again as he thought of Steve Rogers. A couple of weeks earlier he had received a message from Sam Wilson, aka Falcon. Peter had sort of freaked out when he had gotten the email, wondering if he was being called in for a mission or worse, the message was actually spam. He'd had very few interactions with Falcon outside of battles and getting the message out of the blue made him worried. Instead it had been a mass email sent out to what appeared to be the rest of the Avengers (Peter had immediately saved their emails to his contacts) and detailed events that had taken place earlier that day when Steve had been sent back to return all the infinity stones to their appropriate places in history and had not returned. At least not in the same form he had left in.

"Wow Vibranium," Ned said, reading one of Cap's many information boards. "Do you have any of that?"

"I had a tiny, tiny bit to experiment with that Mr Stark had left over from remaking Cap's shield." Peter explained quietly, "But it's really, really difficult stuff to get and Wakanda is super careful about who they give it to."

"Damn." Ned said sighing. "I'd love to have a shield like that."

Peter laughed despite himself.

Once they had made it around to all the exhibits, Peter becoming very distant at the Iron Man exhibit and Ned had taken his fill of photos, they proceeded into the testing wing. By this time most of the other students had already had their turn so the line wasn't very long.

The prototypes weren't all that impressive once you had seen and experienced the real thing, Peter decided. They had two technicians helping the students to navigate the equipment. Each student had the opportunity to use a replica of Cap's shield, though it were far less impressive and seemed to actually obey the laws of physics, unlike the real thing. They could try on a replica of War Machine's helmet and interact with a bot to read and react to different situations that were presented in a sort of virtual reality environment. There were a few other pieces of equipment lying around but it seemed these two were the most highly sought after. The third item that the students were most keen to use was what shook Peter the most. It was a replica of one of Tony's suit - just the arm and there was no arc reactor powering the blasters - that melded to the arm and shifted as the wearer moved. Peter squirmed as each student tried it on, each looking more ridiculous than the last.

Peter scowled at Flash who had just stepped into the experimental space and immediately headed for the Iron Man arm. The tech helped him into it and Flash grinned as he moved his arm around and watched as the plates shifted with his movements. It was beginning to make Peter feel sick, the spectacle of it all. Here were a bunch of teenagers enjoying trying on different weapons. Though they were just replicas, it annoyed Peter to think that they were being used so carelessly when the real things belonged to people he knew and who put their lives on the line time and time again. Before Thanos, Peter might have found it amusing, he might have even stood a little taller knowing that he actually got to see the real things. But now… it made him feel sick.

Peter watched as Flash arrogantly raised his hand and looked towards the rest of the students as he obnoxiously mimicked a finger snap. Peter saw some of his classmates visibly flinch and Peter himself went stock still in shock. From what Peter had heard, finger snapping had taken on incredible connotations post the Decimation. People were afraid to snap their fingers and it became a sort of equivalent to the horrid 'go kill yourself/ kill me now' phrases that people had enjoyed lightly tossing around for a period back in 2017. Given that some of his classmates had lived through the Decimation, Peter wasn't surprised at their reactions after the way their lives had been turned upside down. It made Peter want to go up into the experimental space and punch Flash right in his stupid face.

For Peter it was different. The connotation of that motion shook him deep to his core, making him feel as though he were back on the battle field, watching Tony Stark die all over again. Peter's chest tightened and suddenly all the noises around him felt infinitely louder, the lights above and their ringing making him want to clap his hands over his ears and eyes. Even the sound of Flash moving his arm and hearing the metal plates clink sent Peter reeling. He smelt body odour in the air, mixing with deodorant and perfume and the potent smell of mint chewing gum that made his nose sting. Peter's vision began to blur, and he swallowed thickly as his heart rate quickened and his palms became clammy. He stumbled when a wave of dizziness hit, and he bumped into Ned.

"You ok?" Ned said grasping Peter's arm to support him.

"Yeah, I'll be ok." Peter said shying away from Ned's touch. "Just going to get some air I think."

Before Ned could offer to come with him Peter pushed through his classmates and made for the exit.

Peter left the museum space through the same door that they had come in and headed down the corridor towards a large window he had spotted earlier. He reached it quickly and took a seat, pressing his back against the smooth, cool concrete. He pulled his backpack off and set it in front of him, pulling out a pair of noise cancelling headphones and snapping them over his ears. Silence washed over Peter as he breathed deeply, crossing his legs out in front of him as he settled into the little outcropping beside the window.

The sensory overload was something Peter had gradually learnt to cope with better over the last few years. He'd come to accept it as just another part of the Spider-Man gig. As great as his heightened senses were in a battle, in regular life sometimes they were just too much. It didn't help that he seemed to be experiencing panic attack symptoms more frequently now.

Sometimes when his senses got too loud Peter liked to listen to music, sometimes, like now, he just liked the silence that the noise cancelling headphones provided. He shut his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cool glass and focused on calming his breathing down, practicing the counting method that Karen had taught him about.

Peter didn't have to take the headphones off or open his eyes to know that someone had joined him. He sensed the air shift as she sat down opposite him, felt the floor beneath him vibrate with her movements.

Peter let his eyes open and glanced at MJ who had taken a seat opposite him, sketch book open. Of course, she had come to sketch him. At this point he didn't feel offended and just let her draw him.

"You ok?" She asked, once Peter removed his headphones. The sounds were quieter now and Peter tried to focus on keeping it that way.

"Yeah." Peter said shrugging and watching as she pushed the graphite pencil around the page, gradually forming what resembled a head.

"You reacted pretty badly to the snap." MJ mused and Peter cursed her for being so observant.

"What do you mean?" He said, choosing to play dumb.

"I'm not an idiot, I know a panic attack when I see one." MJ said, continuing her sketching but pausing to look up at Peter every now and then. She was half right he supposed, but she couldn't possibly know about the sensory overload thing. She probably only knew it was a panic attack because of stupid Flash grabbing his phone on the bus that morning. MJ spoke again, "counting helps for me, I identify 5 thinks I can see, 4 things I can hear et cetera until I’ve gone through all my senses."

"Breathing helps me." Peter replied, tilting his head curiously. Did MJ get panic attacks?

"Yeah well it is pretty crucial." She said, her lips quirking up in what Peter took to be a sort of half smile. "But, you got snapped so how come you reacted so badly to it? We weren't even here to see the effects."

Peter looked out the window and sighed, his warm breath making the glass fog up. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you… or if you did, you'd find it dumb."

"To make you react like that, I doubt it'd be dumb." MJ said in a way that made it clear she wasn't pushing him for an answer, but Peter found that he wanted to anyway.

"I… I lost Mr Stark." Peter whispered, so quiet he wondered if she heard. He kept his eyes trained outside to the skyline, not wanting to see MJ's reaction. He heard her pencil stop moving across the paper for a few seconds before starting again. "He was my mentor, I know Flash doesn’t believe it, but he taught me a lot… he was really important to me. Losing him was like losing a part of myself, and I'm struggling to find my way back."

Peter stopped talking and bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from thinking further about the matter and MJ didn't push him further.

"See." MJ said leaning her head against the glass so as to catch Peter's eye. "Not dumb at all."

"Thanks." Peter said smiling weakly.

"And for the record, I don't think you ever really lose someone. As long as they're still here," she tapped her forehead, "and here" then her heart, “you never actually lose them."

Peter nodded and mulled over her words for a little longer. They remained seated across from each other by the window outcropping for some time, not speaking. The silence wasn't uncomfortable or awkward in any way, instead it was peaceful and comforting. Peter was beginning to find that he actually really enjoyed spending time with MJ.

He was mustering up the courage to ask MJ how she was doing after being brought back from the Snap, worried that any question into her personal life might make her retreat, when the hair on his arms stood up. Peter immediately became alert, looking first out the window to ensure that no alien ships were descending from the sky. He put his headphones away and slung his backpack over his shoulders, moving to push himself off the ground and pressing a hand against the cool tiling of the floor as he did. Peter paused when he felt the energy currents running beneath them and the slow but steady rumbling that was disrupting the waves. Something was growing in power beneath them. Sometime was definitely not right.

"Something-" Peter began but his voice was lost to the extreme force of the explosion that went off several floors beneath them.

Chapter Text

 Peter's body responded quickly, and he threw himself in front of MJ as the explosion rang out andthe floor trembled around them. Peter squeezed his eyes shut as rubble peppered the back of his Midtown blazer, probably ruining the fabric… May wouldn't be happy.

Peter remained in front of MJ, one hand braced against the window beside them. He glanced down at her and saw that she had brought her knees to her chest and was covering her head with her arms in defence. They both stayed still, waiting for the next explosion to come and feeling relieved when it didn't.

"What the hell is going on?" MJ asked, getting shakily to her feet as Peter helped her.

Peter glanced around at the museum doors, or rather, what was left of them. The explosion had blown them right off and they were lying on the ground not far from where he was standing.

Together, he and MJ walked swiftly towards the museum. The air was thick with dust and Peter had to pull MJ out of the way of a shower of sparks that sprayed down from the ceiling lights.

"Hello?" Peter called out once they had reached the threshold of the museum, "is everyone ok? Can you hear me?"

"Help!" Someone yelled from within and Peter could hear other people coughing and groaning. He launched himself through the doorway, desperate to find out if Ned and the rest of his classmates were ok.

"Woah!" Peter yelled coming to a sudden stop and throwing a hand out to stop both him and MJ from falling to an early death.

The explosion that had gone off below them had resulted in a large portion of the museum floor caving in, leaving a gaping chasm in the centre of the room. As the dust settled, Peter could see some of his classmates on the other side along with Mr Harrington and Abigail, helping people get to their feet. Peter quickly picked out Ned who was helping a coughing Betty to her feet. He seemed unharmed and Peter relaxed a fraction.

"Peter!" Ned yelled when he caught sight of them standing on the other side of the chasm. "What do we do?"

"Just stay put!" Peter called back running a hand anxiously through his hair. What washe supposed to do?

"Peter." MJ said snapping her fingers to get his attention. "Whatever is going on this place isn't stable, we need to get them out.”

"Right!" Peter said nodding and looked up to the ceiling, identifying a set of speakers. "Friday! Status report."

"Yes boss." Friday said promptly, the intercom crackling slightly. Peter started slightly but tried not to think about the way she had just addressed him, it wasn't important right now. "Six unidentified individuals have breached Level 15. Levels 3 to 15 currently do not have power. It appears that the Arc Reactor has been compromised and utilised to cause an explosion on Level 16. My cameras are currently unavailable because of the power outage but I believe they are trying to access Alpha Vault 3."

"Alpha Vault 3?" Peter asked as he tried to take in everything that Friday was telling him and not panic.

"It is where, in the past, Stark Industries has stored other-worldly artefacts and our most dangerous equipment." Friday explained.

"Any idea what these unidentified individuals are after?" Peter asked.

"… for a short period of time the Infinity Stones were stored in Alpha Vault 3 under lockdown until Captain Steve Rogers embarked on his mission to return them to their original locations." Friday replied after a pause.

"Did anyone know about the Infinity Stones being there?" Peter asked.

"The information was not made available to the public."

Peter nodded, biting his lip and pacing back and forth before the chasm.

"What sort of damage are we looking at?" Peter asked as he tried to think of what to do first.

"The explosion caused most damage to the central areas of levels 16-18 as it appeared that the assailants overloaded the energy to Arc Output 2c, located two levels directly below you on level 16, in order to dismantle the security protocols of Alpha Vault 3." Friday explained.

"Shit." Peter muttered and took a step closer to the gaping hole in the floor. "What about Pepper, Happy and Morgan?" Peter asked as the thought suddenly struck him.

"They are currently still in Ms Potts’ office where I have initiated a lock down protocol until emergency services arrive. Should the situation escalate beyond control I believe Ms Potts has access to Mark XLIX, you know it as the Rescue armour." Friday explained. Peter struggled to understand how the situation wasn’t already beyond control but decided to move on.

"How about Shuri, Bruce and Wanda? Are they still at SI?" Peter asked Friday as he paced back and forth around the hole more. It seemed that there was a sort of outcropping around the edge of the room that hadn’t been brought down in the explosion that could be a feasible route of escape.  

"The three of them left approximately 50 minutes ago but I have been in contact." Friday reported.

"Peter, we need to get everyone out of here." MJ reminded him.

"Ok, OK, OK." Peter said running a hand through his hair again. "Friday keep me updated if anything changes."

"Of course."

The hole in the floor had to be at least 15 feet wide and gave way to a pure drop. One glance down was enough to tell Peter that even if you survived the 50 foot fall down to level 16, the inferno burning at the bottom would kill you anyway. Peter couldn't tell if anyone from their group had been in the area when the floor had caved in from the force of the explosion, but he prayed not.

God, if only Peter hadn't put the damn suit up in the lab, this wouldn't be as big of a problem now. The elevators were down and while he was quick, he wasn’t sure how long it would take him to run up 10 flights of stairs, he couldn’t even recall seeing a stairwell on Level 27. He racked his brains trying to think of any possible way to get the suit down but came up empty handed. He had to do this now, as Peter Parker.

Peter turned towards his classmates who were slowly gathering on the other side of the pit, looking in despair at what was blocking their path to escape.

"Hey everyone!" Peter said waving his hands to get their attention. "We're going to get everyone out but you're going to have to be patient!"

"Why can't we just stay here until actual emergency services arrive?" Flash asked indignantly, stepping on what must have been a particularly weak part of the floor as it caved under his step. Mr Harrington managed to grab onto Flash’s collar and yank him back in time to save Flash from falling down with it.  

"That's why!" Peter yelled back.

Peter turned to MJ, "Clearly the floor isn't stable so we need to get everyone over here asap so we can get them out of the building. I'm going to go over to their side and then I need you to help them from this side, can you do that?"

MJ nodded fiercely and followed Peter over to the side of the chasm.

Peter looked down at the ledge he was going to try and get people over. It wasn't more than a foot wide and the concrete underneath looked frighteningly cracked and weak. What made it worse was that the ledge tapered into barely a foot’s width about halfway along before widening out again. It would require patience and care to cross. Peter pressed one hand against the wall beside him and took a deep breath, trying not to think about the drop below him and at the same time convincing himself that even if he fell, he might survive. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of his classmates. Peter tested his weight a few times as he crossed and was relieved to find that the ground remained strong, showing no indication of cracking… yet.

One by one Peter began helping his classmates across, carrying those few who had been injured and couldn't walk while Mr Harrington instructed the rest of the class to stay calm. It was a slow process and by the time they were about halfway through the class the remaining students were growing antsy, each wanting to be the next to reach safety.

"Slowly." Peter cried as one of the students stumbled along the ledge, a fraction of concrete breaking off. Disregarding Peter's warning, he ran along the edge, grabbing the outstretched arm of Mr Harrington, who had now taken over MJ’s role.

"Not that fast." Peter said to the next student.

Sweat was trickling down the back of Peter's neck and each time a student made it across he breathed a sigh of relief. The fire below definitely wasn’t helping things. The growing blaze had resulted in the air becoming thick with heat and the rising smoke.

"Ned." Peter said reaching out a hand and helping Ned step onto the ledge.

"This is freaking insane." Ned muttered taking the hand Peter offered and edging his way around the chasm.

"Tell me about it." Peter replied as he watched his friend slowly make it across, taking Mr Harrington's arm on the other side and jumping to safety.

"Me next!" Flash exclaimed desperately, trying to elbow his way forward but Peter put an arm out to stop him and gestured for Abigail to go next so that she could start leading students down the stairs to safety. She squeezed Peter's hand tightly and nodded thankfully before she stepped shakily onto the ledge. She reached the other side quickly and encouraged the students to follow her swiftly out of the museum.

"Hurry up, Thompson, Parker." Mr Harrington said, somehow keeping his cool despite it all.

"Careful, Flash." Peter said as the other boy brushed aside his hand and crept out onto the ledge.

Flash had just reached the thinnest part of the narrow path when Peter felt the hair on his arms stand up and the familiar hum of energy below. "Stop!"

"What!" Flash yelled frantically, his back pressed against the wall.

"Everyone out!" Peter yelled at his remaining classmates as he heard the energy crackle in the air around him. The ground beneath Flash's feet cracked.

"Flash I need you to jump." MJ said on the other side, stretching her hand out. Unlike the rest of their classmates who had turned tail and fled for the stairs, she had remained behind. Mr Harrington appeared to be trying to keep an eye on the three of them but was distracted when a student suddenly collapsed and he was forced to carry her from the room.

"I can't." Flash said shaking his head, looking directly down at the hole below them and the fire at its bottom.

"Flash you need to go now otherwise the ground is going to cave and you will fall." Peter urged but it was too late. Another explosion went off below them somewhere and the ground trembled. The floor under Flash's feet gave way.

"No!" Peter yelled, throwing himself to the ground and lunging for Flash. He grabbed Flash’s hand only to find that the other boy’s weight dragged him over the edge. Peter managed to grab onto what was luckily, a more stable piece of the remaining floor. If it weren’t for the powers, he had been gifted they both would have fallen down into the flames. Speaking of the flames, they had risen, fuelled by the second explosion and if Peter had been hot before, it was nothing compared to things now.

"Peter!" MJ yelled as more parts of the floor collapsed and she was forced to take several steps back.

"Goddammit." Peter groaned, not because Flash was heavy but because his weight was twisting Peter's shoulder at an odd angle.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." Flash was repeating in panic as he hung suspended above open space.

"Shut up otherwise I willdrop you!" Peter yelled, he couldn't think straight with Flash's babbling.

"Another explosion has been set off, I believe that they are now in possession of weapons procured from Alpha Vault 3." Peter heard Friday over the intercom but didn't have the time to reply.

Keeping a tight grip on the ledge that was now supporting himself and Flash, Peter looked about desperately for anyway to get them over to where MJ was standing. It was too far away for Peter to reach, especially with Flash dangling from him, even if Peter were to start swinging the boy like a pendulum. The distance was too great.

Peter looked below them, searching for any way to get Flash to safety.

The floor below them, level 17, had been largely blown out by the explosion as well but Peter could see a portion of the floor off to the left below them. If he could somehow get Flash to fall in that direction, there might be hope. Peter's brain frantically ran the calculations, but it was difficult to concentrate, what with the heat from the fire and the fact that his backpack was slowly slipping further and further off his shoulder. One of the straps had come loose when he had fallen and now there was barely anything aside from the shoulder of his blazer keeping it from falling down and hitting Flash in the face.

"Ok Flash." Peter said as Flash looked up at him in terror, the movement shooting pain up Peter's shoulder as the other boy swayed back and forth slightly. "You see the floor below us, to the left where that table is?" Peter asked peering below them.

"You have to be kidding." Flash whimpered.

"I'm not.” Peter said bluntly.

"I'm gonna die, it's too far."

"No, it's not." Peter said. "I'm going to start swinging you and then I'll count to three, on three I'll let go and you have to do your best to get to that patch of ground."

"It's too far."

"No, it isn't." Peter repeated, squeezing Flash's hand as tight as he could, hoping the pain would cut through his classmates' shock. Flash flattened his mouth into a straight line and breathed in deeply through his nose. Taking that as a yes, Peter began swinging him, each movement bringing him closer to the correct orientation it would take for Flash to reach that patch of floor.

"Peter what are you doing?" MJ yelled in panic, but he didn't reply.

"1…" Peter said, wincing slightly as his shoulder twinged in pain. "2…"

"Peter I can't." Flash said shaking his head in a panic.

"3!" Peter yelled, grunting as he swung Flash back one last time and made to let go of the boy’s hand. Flash however, had other ideas, and tried to keep a hold of Peter's hand even as the force of the swing sent him flying down. Peter yelled as he lost his grip of the few centimetres of ground that he had been grasping onto.

"No!" MJ screamed running to the side of the pit.

Peter twisted as he fell but his instincts were quick to react, grasping at a water pipe that was protruding from the destroyed concrete of the floor. Peter grasped it tightly and once he was no longer falling, cast his eyes down to the floor below feeling a huge wave of relief wash over him when he saw that Flash was lying safely on the ground. It seemed he was unconscious but at least he wasn't in the fire below. Peter breathed a sigh of relief and was about to pull himself up when he felt the weight of his backpack slip from his shoulders.

"No!" Peter yelled, spinning and grasping at thin air as the backpack sailed out of his reach. Peter felt as though his heart had plummeted along with it. All Mr Stark's files were on the hard drive concealed in that backpack. All the time and research Tony had dedicated over the last 14 years would be gone as soon as that backpack hit the flames. Work that he had left in Peter’s care. Work he had left for Peter to develop, a legacy for Peter to carry on his shoulders.

Peter watched in horror as the backpack sailed down towards the fire below. It fell one floor, two floors and suddenly caught onto a protruding metal rod. Peter heard the fabric of the backpack strap tear on impact and saw the way it continued to fray as it swung there, only meters above the fire below, swinging backwards and forwards.

"Peter, come on!" MJ said extending her hand, though it were far too far to actually reach.

Peter looked up at her and then down at his backpack in panic. It was starting to slip down the metal pole and if it fell again there would be no hope. Peter thought of performing a similar manoeuvre to the one he had just successfully done with Flash, but the backpack was too far down and too far away from any stable ground for it to be safe. Peter could fall but he would have no webs to pull himself up… unless.

"Karen!" Peter yelled in desperation as he hung there looking down to the fire.

"Peter." He almost cried in relief when he heard her familiar voice over the intercom.

"Karen, I need it." He said, the smoke that was now billowing up from the inferno below making his eyes sting. Peter cast them upwards to the white ceiling above, now tarnished with soot and the lights that flickered there. "The suit."

"You left the suit at Level 27." Karen reminded him.

"I know!" Peter yelled. "But I need it now, like right now!"

"Peter what are you talking about, pull yourself up and grab my hand and then let’s get out of here!" MJ yelled at him angrily.

"When you put the suit in its case you effectively put it offline. Friday's hostile protocol has the upper levels on lockdown, I cannot get the suit online if the lab's system is locked, as it currently is.” Karen explained.

"Then unlock the system! Get it back online." Peter watched as the bag slid further down. The prospect of hurling himself towards it was becoming more and more appealing.

"There is an override key, but it’s a code.”

"What's the code?"

"I cannot tell, it appears Mr Stark set it. Six digits."

Peter groaned in frustration as he hung there. Six digits? It could be anything. Peter racked his brains, Mr Stark wasn't one to do anything randomly, there had to be a significance to the numbers he had chosen, Peter was sure. Six digits… perhaps a date of some sort? Peter cast his mind back to all the important moments he had shared with Tony Stark. The date could be sentimental, but it seemed more likely that, given it was Peter’s lab, it would be a date important to him above all else. Luckily, there was one memory that stuck out above all others.

 "So, what do you say kid?" Tony Stark said startling Peter, who glanced hastily up from his microscope, bumping his knee on the workbench as he did so.

Peter winced and rubbed at his now throbbing knee, turning his gaze to his mentor. Tony Stark was seated at the main desk of his personal lab, one that Peter rarely had the privilege of working in and only when Tony was in a particularly excellent mood and wanted the company.

"Sorry?" Peter asked having missed the early portion of Mr Stark’s sentence.

"God you’re as bad as me. I was saying do you want to go and get some pizza? Get some fresh air, it's a Friday night after all, why are we still here working?" Tony said standing up from his desk.

"Um… yeah ok?" Peter replied hesitantly, the idea of a break did sound quite good though he had just been making considerable development on the web fluid he had been experimenting with. But Peter supposed the web fluid would still be there when he returned.

"I'll take you to the best pizza place in New York." Tony said as Peter quickly sealed up his materials so that they wouldn’t be contaminated.

"The best pizza in New York?" Peter asked sceptically as he headed for the elevator but stopped when he realised that Tony wasn't following him.

"Come on kid, walking is a little boring don't you think?" Tony said and Peter watched as he tapped at the arc reactor on his chest and the Iron Man suit began to unravel, enfolding his body in armour. "Foot traffic at this hour is frustrating and I don't think Happy would appreciate having to navigate the roads right now."

"Are you sure?" Peter asked, his eyes flicking over to his duffle bag that he had brought with him for the weekend, and more importantly to the suit that it contained.

"If you don't tell Pepper, then I won't." Peter raised an eyebrow, if anyone caught Spider-Man and Iron Man getting pizza it would be all over the internet and press by the next day. He expected Pepper would find out anyway, there was nothing she didn’t know.  

Peter shrugged and grinned, when else was he going to get the chance to have a pizza with the Tony Stark?

"Best pizza in New York?" Peter said tilting his head as he looked down at the slice of Ray’s pizza he held in his hands.

"You bet, I won’t take criticism on this." Tony said, pointing an accusatory finger at Peter as he munched away on a slice.

They were sitting on top of Stark Industries. It was dark now, the moon, at least three quarters full, hung above them in the sky. Her light was almost entirely drowned out by the lights of the city before them.

Peter took a bite of the pizza, hoping that it wasn't going to make his suit greasy. It was pretty amazing pizza, he had to admit.

The two remained like that, eating their pizza and Peter tried not to smile too much. It was a peculiar situation but he’d enjoy it while it lasted.  

Being up in the open air was a nice break from the stuffy lab that they had been working since Peter had arrived at SI around 9 that morning. Mr Stark wasn't that big on breaks, but he always made sure that Peter went to eat lunch even if he himself remained in the lab for hours on end. Peter had enjoyed today particularly because he had been allowed to actually work in Tony’s lab rather than working twenty levels below alongside the other interns.

Peter's senses piqued and he felt his ears straining for the sound of sirens or any other indication that something bad might be about to happen below them. After listening out for a minute or so Peter let himself relax a little. He loved and was grateful for his gifts but these days he felt like he was always on edge. Peter felt like he was constantly switched on, like he never really got a break except for when he was sleeping and even then, his Spidey senses had risen him from slumber before. If he became an Avenger was this what things were going to be like?

"Mr Stark?" Peter said turning slightly to look at Tony who was enjoying his second slice of pizza and gazing out over the city. Peter hadn't seen him this relaxed before.

"Mmh?"

"This whole super hero thing." Peter began knocking his ankles together as he dangled his feet off the side of the building. "Does it ever get easier? Like do you ever get any down time? It’s just I feel like I'm constantly on alert these days and it gets tiring. It makes me wonder whether I'm really cut out to do it…"

"Woah, wait, where's all this coming from?" Tony asked in surprise.

"I don't know… just thinking." Peter said mulling his thoughts over a little longer. "you've done this for so long- I'm not saying you’re old or anything-"

Tony frowned and Peter sighed.

"That’s not what I meant, forget I said that. I guess… how come you're still doing it? Aren't you tired? Where do you get the strength to keep going when it all, I don’t know,” Peter gestured out to the city before them as he spoke, “gets too much?"

Tony paused thoughtfully before he answered. "I want to say that I find this job easy, that's it’s what I was always meant to do so I'm ok with the stress and the pain and the fear…" Tony began and looked sideways at Peter as though worried that he was scaring the kid. "But there are difficult days, as there are with all jobs and all parts of life. Difficult days are just a little more common in this field of work."

Tony paused and thought a little longer. "I guess, now don’t think I’m getting mushy or anything, but what helps me is thinking back to how far I have come. That journey was pretty rough for me and I know that I went through that for a reason, and all of it helped me get here. And trust me, the journey isn’t over, I’m still learning things every single day but that’s part of the fun. If that doesn’t work then I try and think about the people that I’m trying to help, the people of this city, this planet, my friends, Pepper… though if she asks you, it’s entirely for her and our future together ok? I need you to swear it.”

"I swear." Peter said grinning and putting a hand on his heart.

Tony laughed and handed Peter another slice of pizza. "It's a lot, I know." Tony said shrugging, "but when you feel torn down by the job, it might help to think about a really important time for you, as Spider-Man."

"What do you mean."

"I don’t know, can you remember a time where you really thought thisis it, thisis what I am supposed to be doing and I am good at it. This is what I'm meantto be?"

"Yeah I guess so…" Peter said slowly and began to recount the time that he had been trapped beneath a collapsed warhouse after things had gone south during his confrontation with the Vulture several months earlier. Peter had been at the lowest of low points and for the first time he had been worried that he might not make it out. When he had managed to get himself free it hadn’t been because of a fancy suit or gadget, it had been his strength and persistence. Nothing else inspired Peter with such determination, and as Tony had said, the feeling that what he was doing was right… it was what he was meantto be doing.

Dammit, even from the grave Tony was still teaching him lessons.

“Peter, I need a code if you want me to get the suit.” Karen said over the intercom.

“Right ok, I got it.” Peter said thinking back to his battle with the Vulture. “Try this: 092317.”

“Pending.” Karen said after a moment. “Code accepted. I’m in and sending the suit your way now.”

“Hostiles have breached Level 14 and are now armed; evacuation protocol is under way and Ms Potts has activated the Rescue armour. The avengers’ arrival is imminent.” Friday informed Peter. It seemed like he would be getting the suit just in time.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief and cast his gaze down to the backpack which was barely hanging on and then back up at MJ who was pacing in distress.

"Peter Parker, I don’t know what the hellis going on, or who you are right now but you need to get back up here, and we need to leave!” She yelled at him.

"MJ leave."

"What?"

"I need you to leave, go down the stairs and get out of here." Peter said looking intently at her.

"Are you insane? I'm not just going to leave you hanging there!"

"I know, but you need to go. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"You are hanging from a water pipe fifty feet over a fire!" She screamed at him.

"Do you trust me?" Peter demanded, apparently shutting MJ up with how desperate he looked.

"Sometimes I question why… but yes I do."

"Then leave." Peter said looking intensely at her. "Trust me and leave."

"Don’t make me regret this Parker, I better see you down there in one piece otherwise I will kill you myself." MJ snapped, shaking her head in dismay. She bit her lip as she turned to leave the museum.

"Go!" Peter yelled praying that she would be clear of the room before his suit arrived. MJ scowled, gave a yell of frustration and stormed out through the museum doors.

"Your suit will be coming in through the glass windows on the south side of the building." Karen informed him.

Peter focused on keeping his breathing steady and stared down at his swaying backpack. Peter yelped as the pipe he was holding onto shifted a foot lower, making his heart lurch. The ground around him appeared to have reached its last defences and was cracking dangerously as the heat from the fire made the building shift and expand.

"Karen-" Peter began but was cut off as another section of the ground gave out to his right and together with the pipe, he was sent flying down towards the fire.

Chapter Text

Instinctively, Peter’s hands shot upwards, trying to grab onto anything that would stop his fall, but it was too late. As he dropped, he got the uncomfortable feeling that his stomach had been left behind and while it was a funny feeling to have on a rollercoaster, it was not as pleasant when you were about to fall to a fiery end.

Before Peter could do the whole ‘last thoughts’ thing which inevitably probably wouldn’t have been as grand as he would have liked, the wind was knocked out of him as the iron spider suit hit him square in the back. At record speed, it unravelled over his skin, a little uncomfortable considering it was going over his regular clothes, but the suit seemed to try and shift to accommodate them.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Peter yelled enthusiastically and pointed his wrist upwards, shooting a web to break his fall and swinging past his backpack grabbing it right before it fell into the inferno below. “You never disappoint, Karen.” Peter said as he landed on the floor, he had thrown Flash onto not long ago.

“Naturally, Peter.” Karen’s voice replied in his helmet. “Hostiles are currently contained to Alpha Vault 3 and Ms Potts is trying to get inside but it appears they have barricaded the doors.”

“Alright, let me get Flash down to the others and then I’ll try and work something out with Pepper.” Peter said walking over to Flash who was still unconscious. “By the way, is he ok?”

Peter’s suit did a scan of Flash and brought up a replica of Flash’s vitals on the screen before his eyes. “I believe that he has a mild concussion and bruising to his shoulder and back but nothing severe.”

“Alright, that’s good then.”

“The bruises will likely be painful.” Karen added.

“I didn’t ask.” Peter said but he grinned anyway as he hoisted Flash up and into a fireman’s lift.

“You thought it though.”

“What floor is MJ on now, has she reached the rest of the class?” Peter asked, striding out the door of the destroyed lab and towards the stairwell near the lifts. With the hand that wasn’t braced against Flash’s back he webbed up his backpack strap to stop it from tearing any more than it already had.

“Based on the limited access that I have to back up security cameras, Michelle and your classmates are currently on floor 6.” Karen told him as he reached the top of the stairs and peered down between the flights. Nothing like 11 floors to get the blood pumping before having to tackle six bad guys.

“Well, all in a day’s work, I guess.” Peter said shrugging and started to take the stairs two at a time.  

The time allowed Peter to think up what he was going to say to MJ so that she wouldn’t suspect anything. He wasn’t sure what he would say if she asked about how Peter had asked for his suit whilst hanging from a water pipe fifty feet in the air and what exactly the ‘suit’ was. It wouldn’t necessarily take a genius to connect the dots… and MJ pretty much was a genius. Perhaps she would’ve forgotten that part because of shock or something? Peter knew it was wishful thinking.

“S-Spider-Man?” Flash mumbled from behind Peter’s shoulder.

“You bet.” Peter said, deepening his voice a little to make him sound different, though he doubted Flash was in any condition to ID him. Flash mumbled something unintelligible and then stopped talking and Peter wondered whether he had passed out again.

According to the time on his suit interface, it took Peter one minute and 12 seconds to get down to his classmates, who had now reached Floor Four and counting.

Peter caught up with them in the stairwell.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat and gave a little wave as half the class and Mr Harrington turned to look back at him.

“Spider-Man!” Ned said gleefully.

“I believe this belongs to you.” Peter said walking a few more steps to Mr. Harrington, unshouldering Flash and passing him off to his teacher.

“Right… yes thank you.” Mr Harrington said guiltily, “Is he alright?”

“Just a concussion… but he should probably see a medic.” Peter added hastily, naturally a concussion was ‘just a concussion’ to him at this point. Peter had legitimate concern for the number of brain cells he himself had lost from hitting his head too hard during fights, but he supposed the situation was more critical for Flash considering the lack of brain cells he seemed to have begun with. Dammit if Flash had been awake that would have been a really good joke.

“What about Peter!” MJ said and bounded back up the stairs to him. “He was with Flash.”

“He’s fine, I uh…” Peter faltered despite having rehearsed his tale down eleven flights of stairs, “I got him out too, but he insisted on helping the civilians still upstairs, brave guy.” Peter wanted to slap himself for that last part. “Ned, good to see you again, Peter asked you to hold onto this and take very good care of it.”

Peter handed Ned his backpack and watched Ned beam as his classmates began to whisper:how does he know Spider-Man?

“Alright then,” Peter said dusting his hands off now that he had handed his cargo off. “You all head out of the building while we handle the situation up here.”

At that exact moment Flash managed to get his eyes open, groaning from where he hung supported by Mr Harrington and one of his friends. Peter rounded the next flight of stairs just in time to hear Flash’s enthusiastic, “oh mY GOD IS THAT SPIDER-MAN?”

Peter grinned as he leapt up onto the railing, gave a wave to the students who craned their necks out to watch him. He shot a web upwards and used it to pull himself up past flights of stairs.  

“Ms Potts has successfully breached Alpha Vault 3.” Karen informed Peter when he reached Level 15 and burst out the stairwell doors and onto the main floor.

“Shall I activate instant kill?” Karen asked.

“Nah, let’s see what we’re up against first.” Peter said as he jogged down the corridor towards the door at the end. It was, or rather had been, a heavy-duty steel alloy structure but was now lying a few feet away on the ground, having been blown out by an explosion. “Can you link me into the Rescue suit so I can communicate with Pepper?”

“Done.”

“Hi Pepper.” Peter said hesitantly as he stepped through the doorway, dodging pieces of rubble.

“Peter, what happened to your tour?” Pepper said, her voice drowned out in the middle by a loud boom.

“Oh, you know, something came up.” Peter said when he reached her.

Pepper was standing with her hands raised, pointed in the direction of another set of what seemed to be, impenetrable doors. She turned to look at him, “Good to see you changed your mind about the suit.”

“I can take care of this now if you’d like,” Peter said hesitantly, shying away from her comment. He wasn’t so sure he could ‘take care of it’ as such but wanted to offer nonetheless. What with Morgan and Happy still in the building and everything that had happened last month he wasn’t sure how involved Pepper wanted to be in the whole superhero scene.  

“I appreciate it Peter, but this is my company, my work and nobody threatens myfamily.” Pepper said fiercely.

“Ms Maximoff, Princess Shuri and Dr Banner have arrived at the premises, I have brought an elevator back online to escort them up.” Friday said speaking up from both Pepper’s suit and Peter’s.

“Friday, I just ran down eleven flights of stairs, you didn’t tell me you could do that!”

“Now isn’t the time, Peter.” Pepper said as the doors trembled. “They need to come out one way or another, it’s just a question of when. Friday, any update on what sort of weapons they have activated?”

“I am unsure, my entire system is offline behind those doors, whoever blew out Arc Output 2c knew what they were doing.”

“An inside job?” Peter asked and saw Pepper tilt her head.

“It better not be.” She said and without warning shot two blasts, one after the other at the doors before them.

“Karen, shocker webs charged please.” Peter said hearing the clicks from his wrists as the suit readied itself. At least with the iron spider suit he didn’t have to worry himself with replacing web fluid, the suit seemed to produce it on command. Peter wished that he had taken the time to study the suit in the last month and mentally kicked himself for letting his emotions prevent him from understanding his own weapon.

Pepper shot another round of pulses at the door but all they did was make dents in the metal.

“Friday, max power.” Pepper said and Peter stepped back as he heard the familiar sound of the arc repulsors building in energy. They went off with a blast and Peter threw his hands up instinctively as the doors exploded. He waited for some sort of impact, but none came.

“Heads.” Wanda Maximoff said, and Peter spun around in time to see her scarlet energy pulling what remained of the doors over their heads and behind her, past where Shuri was standing.

“Sorry we’re late.” Shuri said.  

“Bruce has gone up to try and get your systems back online so that your AI can do… whatever it is that she does.” Wanda said her powers crackling as the group stepped forward through the hole in the doors that Pepper had just created.

“Well then, let’s get rid of these bastards.” Pepper said and then looked to her companions and though Peter couldn’t see her facial expression he could guess it, “and ladies, no casualties… and Peter. I want to know why they’re here first.”

“Naturally. This is just a little hiccup compared to what we are used to.” Wanda said shrugging and raising her hands, power dancing around her fingers. They made their way past more steel doors, leading off into rooms Peter didn’t even know existed.

“Alright miss high and mighty.” Shuri joked and Wanda smiled in response.

“Shock webs charged and engaged.” Karen informed Peter and he readied his hands as they came to the end of the corridor and where the carnage began. The explosion of Arc Output 2c above them had blown through to the floor below, as it had done to the two floors above it.

Beyond the destruction was another room and inside it Peter could see the six hostiles Friday had mentioned earlier.

“Don’t use anything explosive, some of the artefacts in that room are highly reactive.” Pepper yelled and together the group of Avengers went on the offensive. Pepper made it into Alpha Vault 3 first, bashing the first guy over the head. Wanda and Shuri went in together. Shuri had disengaged her blasters but that didn’t make her any less lethal as she drew out two Vibranium daggers.

Peter was last and felt his stomach drop immediately when he got a better look at who was inside the room… Daniel. Daniel, his Launchpad mentor. Peter’s mind flashed back to less than two hours earlier at lunch when he had seen a group of students by the elevators, he recognised their faced among the other people in the room. What had Daniel done?

Peter ducked as Tony’s trademark repulsor tech was turned on him, he was not used to being on the receiving end. Each of the six appeared to have taken a piece of Stark weaponry, all arc powered, and were turning it on the Avengers. Karen scanned the weapons and immediately brought up their specs on his interface, which Peter read rapidly. It seemed they weren’t new tech. Tony had created them for S.H.E.I.L.D but had, luckily, never had the chance to distribute them. As such they had been confined to Alpha Vault 3 to be forgotten about, or at least that was what was supposed to have happened.

Peter dodged as another blast shot past him, taking out a portion of the wall behind him.  

“Hostiles identified.” Karen said. “Peter-“

“I know.” Peter said. Seeing that Pepper had already taken out one of the girls and Wanda and Shuri had the rest relatively under control, he kicked off the wall, spinning and aiming his foot at Daniel’s shoulder.

“Just let us take the damn stones!” Daniel yelled, turning his weapon on Peter and meeting him mid-air. “We’ll give them back afterwards!”

“We don’t have them!” Peter yelled back angrily. Almost everyone had heard of the sacrifice that the Avengers had gone through to get the stones and then return them. So what made these six so desperate that they’d risk that kind of sacrifice?

“Liar!” Daniel snarled. The hatred with which he yelled sent shivers through Peter.

Peter flipped to dodge another blast and without looking sent a shock web at one of the guys who was about to fire on him again. The web encased his chest, sending shocks to what Peter knew were his key pain receptors, bringing him to his knees in pain.

Peter had never seen Daniel like this before. Just earlier they’d had a perfectly easy conversation, Daniel had been sympathetic even. What had made him become like this?

“No more of that thanks.” Peter snapped, wishing that he could talk to Daniel instead of fighting him. Peter shot a regular web and tugged the weapon from Daniel’s hand and threw it up to the roof, shooting a web to keep it in place.

“I just need to get him back…” Daniel said dropping to his knees and raising his hands. “Please… just let us have the stones.”

Peter’s heart dropped and he stood before Daniel as the fight came to an end almost as quickly as it had begun. The other assailants, most of whom didn’t look to be much older than him had been apprehended and were gathered in a corner, Wanda, Shuri and Pepper standing before them, a force formidable enough to make anyone surrender.  

“Afraid the stones don’t work that way.” Peter said bitterly as he grabbed Daniels’ raised hands and pulled them behind his back, webbing them for good measure. Peter stood Daniel up and one by one shot each of the other hostiles, webbing their wrists together. There was no way they were getting through that stuff any time soon. From the looks of their faces, it didn’t seem like they were even keen to try. They had already given up.  

“Let’s get them out of here.” Pepper said, her helmet rising up to reveal her face. “Friday has authorities out the front.”

Peter rode the lift that Friday had gotten back online with the three Avengers and their recently apprehended hostiles all the way back down to the ground floor of Stark Industries. It was a solemn journey and Peter itched to ask Daniel. But there was little that he could say without risking his identity by being too familiar with his friend. Luckily Pepper spoke up as they went past the eighth floor.

“You’ve been a loyal and hardworking employee at this company for a decade, what made you decide to go rogue now?” Pepper said, her voice cold as she refused to look at Daniel.

“You think I enjoyed being stuck down there in with the interns? I only stayed there because it made me invisible. Invisible enough to steal a clearance card when the time came. Everyone got everything back after the snap.” Daniel muttered. “But there were people who lost everything because of the snap and then lost more after it. My fiancée died because he lost his sister and parents to the Decimation. Said he couldn’t live without his family… I was supposed to be his family.” Daniel spat the last bit out. “Those stones brought everyone else back so we figured that they could help us out again. Everyone here lost people who didn’t get brought back. Do you know what it’s like to watch everyone get their lives back knowing that you aren’t going to see your loved ones ever again?”

Pepper was silent for a moment. “Yeah I do.” Her voice was raw and broken as she stormed out of the lift, pushing two of the assailants before her out onto the ground floor. “But you don’t see me going crazy.”

“Probably didn’t care enough then.” One of the guys muttered under his breath and Pepper spun around in a fury, but Peter was quicker to retaliate.

At that comment he shoved Daniel to the floor and turned on the guy who had said it. Wisely, Wanda let go and let Peter at him. He wasn’t a looker, with a nose that had been broken a few times and a blonde buzz cut done so unevenly it looked like he had used garden sheers.

Peter’s helmet slid back to reveal his face. “Say it again.” Peter yelled slamming the assailant up against the wall beside the elevator.

“Peter.” Pepper said quietly.

“Say… it… again.” Peter said slowly, his fists coiled in the high school blazer the guy was wearing, clearly not his own. He had to be at least 5 years too old.

“You didn’t care enough.” He spat in Peter’s face and with a furious yell and a burst of strength Peter threw him 25 feet across the room, sending him sprawling on his back with a crash. It was either that or Peter would have broken his nose another couple of times.

“Peter…” Shuri said as Peter’s mask closed over his face again. Peter wasn’t sure if he had teared up, it felt like he had but the automatic temperature gage of the suit that stopped him from sweating too much probably got rid of whatever moisture may or may not have fallen onto his cheeks.

“I’m fine.” Peter said and pulled Daniel to his feet, who was now gaping at Peter in surprise. Daniel now knew his identity, but Peter couldn’t bring himself to care. “Walk.”

“There they are!” Someone yelled from the crowd that had gathered outside of Stark Industries, mostly consisting of employees but also a considerable amount of press, cameras raised to attention.

“We’ll be taking these guys off your hands now.” A sergeant said, stepping up to the Avengers and gesturing for his officers to take them away. “Neat stuff you got here,” he said indicating Peter’s web on one of the criminal’s wrists, “reckon you could lend some of that to the force?”

“No can do,” Peter said, trying to put on a light attitude, “it’s one of a kind I’m afraid.”  

“You better head off for now, the press is going to have questions for you if you don’t leave.” Pepper said quietly and Peter nodded, slipping through the crowd before anyone else could approach him. Wanda and Shuri followed, dodging people who were luckily too focused on what was happening with Pepper to pay them any attention.

“Well that was a bit of a mess.” Shuri said flicking her wrists, sending the Vibranium daggers somewhere into the Kimoyo beads she wore around her wrist.

“You alright?” Wanda said looking at Peter who was peering over the crowd and trying to pick out his class. He needed his backpack to put the suit back in before anyone saw him.

“I’ll be ok.” Peter said shrugging.

“Peter!” Cried a little voice and Peter turned to see Morgan scampering up to him, a puffing Happy in hot pursuit.

“Oohh hey kiddo, are you ok?” Peter said lifting her up as she reached them.

“When Peter has his mask on, we don’t say his name remember Morgan?” Happy puffed once he reached them.

“Shhhh.” Morgan said pressing a finger to her lips and Peter mimicked the motion, smiling as he did.

“Peter Parker!”

Peter put Morgan down, turned around and had the breath knocked out of him by May who had just stormed through the crowd. She enveloped him in a tight hug.

“Peter!” Morgan echoed and pointed up to him. Happy shushed her again, picking her up.

“Honestly, would it kill you to have one normal high school field trip?” May said drawing back to get a good look at him.

“Tell me about it.” Peter said laughing. “What are you doing here?”

“I came up early for the memorial, and lucky I did!”

“Hello again” Shuri said hesitantly and May jerked her head to look at Peter’s companions in surprise.

“Oh, May, this is the Princess of Wakanda and Wanda Maximoff, you sort of met them last month.” Peter said looking to the two women beside him. “And you obviously already know Happy and Morgan.”

“Nice to meet you… again…” May said shaking their hands slowly and uncertainly. “Hey sweetie.” May then said smiling warmly at Morgan, or at least Peter hoped she was and not at Happy.  

“We’ll let you get on,” Wanda said catching sight of Bruce who had just exited SI and had been met with a flurry of camera flashes. “I’ll probably see you later at the memorial.”

Peter nodded, “thanks for all your help.”

“Anytime.” Wanda said smiling.

“Oh, and Peter, how did it go with those beads I gave you? Did they give that bully a bit of a shock?” Shuri said hopefully and May looked at Peter with a quizzical brow raised.

“I didn’t get the chance to give them to him, but he ended up getting a concussion and some bruises so—"Peter shrugged to finish his sentence.

“Wait don’t tell me that you still have them on you then.”

“Yeah why—” Peter began before his heart lurched as he felt a warm burning sensation begin in his right-hand pocket. “Gah!” Peter exclaimed, falling to one knee and throwing his head back in pain as the bead seemed to react with some part of his suit and electricity crackled through it.

“System overload, too much energy is being inputted into the suit’s main power receptors, disengaging.” Karen said and Peter gritted his teeth at the electricity that charged through him. When the suit had drawn back enough, he reached into his pocket but found nothing there, whatever the beads had been they had apparently disintegrated upon detonation. He picked the suit up gingerly as it smoked slightly.

May helped Peter to his feet as he coughed, the burning feeling fading eventually.

“Ahhh… sorry about that.” Shuri said, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “I didn’t think you would still have them on you, they aren’t supposed to be that strong though…”

“Must have had something to do with my suit.” Peter said as the suit failed to fold itself up into the small box that it usually did. “Damn.” He said turning the smouldering suit over in his hands.

“Next time, just don’t take anything Shuri gives you.” Wanda said shaking her head.

“Hey, that’s strike one, three strikes and I’ll tamper with Vision’s new interface so that he autocorrects ‘I love you’ to all three minutes of ‘what does the fox say’.” Shuri retaliated.

Wanda made a face and stalked away, Shuri running after her and spouting apologies.

“Crazy day, huh?” May said putting an arm around Peter and turning to look back at the crowd that had gathered outside SI.

“Sure was.” Peter said folding his suit into thirds to the best of his ability. “Can you get my backpack off of Ned?”

“Sure thing.” May said, squeezing Peter’s shoulder once and heading off in the direction of his class. Morgan squirmed out of Happy’s arms and was off again, running through the crowds back to her Mom. Happy gave a tremendous sigh but smiled at Peter nonetheless as he jogged off after her.

While he waited, Peter turned his gaze up to the building before him, peering up to his lab. Even his eyes couldn’t see inside it, but he could see which level it was, the glass’s opacity was similar to that of Pepper’s offices on the top floor. He looked from the lab down to his suit but didn’t have much time to put his feelings into thoughts before May had returned and was handing him the backpack.

“You better get over there, they’re all worried about where you’ve been.” May said jerking her heading the direction she had just come from as Peter stuffed the suit into his bag. “You can tell me all about whatever just happened afterwards. We’ll go get something good to eat.”

“Thanks May.” Peter said hugging his aunt as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Peter ran a hand through his hair and straightened his Midtown blazer, trying desperately to make it seem like he hadn’t just been in fight, or mildly electrocuted for that matter.

“Parker,” Mr Harrington said, “thank god you’re ok.” Peter blinked in surprise, he had been expecting reprimand for not staying with the rest of the class. “You wouldn’t believe the paperwork,” Mr Harrington muttered to Abigail who looked sideways at the teacher in concern and edging away.

“Hey man.” Ned said coming up to clap Peter on the back. “You ok?”

“All fine.” Peter said smiling at Ned.

“Where were you.” MJ said from behind, tapping him on the shoulder. Peter was disappointed to find her face stony and arms folded. Perhaps if he hadn’t told her that ‘peter parker’ was ‘fine’ then this reunion might have been a little more heartfelt.

“Oh y’know,” Peter said scratching the back of his neck. “I came down with Happy after getting some of the employees off of the top floors.”

“But I didn’t see you with him.”

“I was… I just ahh- I bumped into May and you know she was all freaking out and stuff.” Peter scrambled for words as MJ’s eyes bore into him.

“Aright.” MJ said, relenting her interrogation. “Considering I last saw you hanging for your life from a pipe this is definitely an improvement.”

“Do I get a hug?” Peter said hopefully, not really thinking before he spoke.

“What? You think your existence deserves a hug from me?” MJ said indignantly but settled for a one-armed embrace that Peter could have sworn lingered a moment longer than it should have.

Peter grinned and looked sideways at Ned who was giving him a not so subtle thumbs up.

Together Peter and MJ moved forward with the rest of the class to watch the procession of assailants be escorted to cop cars.

“Guess you and Spider-Man really are friends then.” MJ said glancing at Peter’s bag and the web that was holding one of the straps in place.

“I told you.” Peter said shrugging and keeping his eyes on each of the six criminals as they were escorted into custody. His eyes lingered sadly on Daniel, wishing that there was something that he could do and wondering how things had gone so wrong.

Peter’s eyes drifted to the final one, the guy with the dodgy nose and bad buzz cut. It was terrible timing apparently, because at that moment his eyes caught sight of Peter and they locked in on Peter in determination as he twisted his head out of the cop’s grasp.

“That’s him, that’s Spider-Man!” He yelled and people around them turned to look at Peter before being drawn back to the action as the guy was thrown up against the vehicle, his hands properly cuffed this time.

“Dumbass,” Flash said from where he was sitting at an ambulance, ice pressed to the back of his head. “I’ve met Spider-Man and he certainly isn’t Penis Parker.” 

“Any idea what he’s talking about?” MJ said nodding in the direction of the assailant and the cop cars, whose lights were now flashing as they edged their way through the crowd and out into traffic.

“No clue.” Peter said shrugging but standing a little taller, casting one last glance up to the Lab on level 27.  

Chapter Text

Even though the fight had ended hours ago Peter's blood continued to pump desperately through his veins. It was as though his body had registered that he was safe now but was still on high alert, ready for whatever might come next. It was exhilarating, if somewhat exhausting.

Peter had said goodbye to his classmates three hours earlier. They'd be at the memorial later that night but given where they'd be standing compared to where Peter was supposed to be… it was unlikely that he would see them.

"I'll see you at school then…" Peter said looking down at his feet and then glancing up to meet MJ’s gaze.

"See you then." MJ said slowly, her eyes searching Peter's face.

Peter turned to leave, tugging his backpack closer to his back with one hand. "Peter wait," MJ said reaching out and lightly touching his hand. Peter stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly as she slid her hand into his and squeezed it.

"Remember," She said and with her other hand reached up to brush her finger tips against Peter's temple lightly, "here", her hands moved down to where his heart was "and here." Peter's Spidey senses were still raring to go and the proximity of her hand to his life force made him almost recoil instinctively away. But Peter remained still, brought back by the memory of her words earlier that afternoon.

'For the record I don't think that you ever really lose someone.'

Peter swallowed, looking down at her hand as she withdrew it from his chest. He didn't really know what to say to that. His gratitude couldn't really be put into words, so he settled for a tender squeeze of her other hand which was still in his.

Slowly, MJ let go, allowing Peter to turn around and say goodbye to Ned.

"In case we don't get to see you later," Ned began enveloping Peter in a tight hug, "you'll be fine, I mean come on you're Spider-Man," Ned said quietly. "But if you need to chat later or you need a distraction or anything, just give me a call."

"Thanks Ned." Peter said grinning as he withdrew from the hug.

Though he had tried to ignore it, Peter’s mind had somewhat been spinning after his interaction with MJ and had drawn his focus away from the people he ended up having dinner with. He’d felt good as he ate with May, Happy and Morgan but that high had quickly crashed as soon as they arrived back at Stark Industries.

"Your suit." May said having retrieved a black clothes bag from the back of Happy's car.

Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Don’t worry, I mean suit, suit." May said smiling and unzipping the bag a fraction so that Peter could see the lapel of the formal jacket.

"Oh right." Peter said, mildly embarrassed but taking it from her non the less.

The Stark Industries bathrooms were not the most comfortable place to get changed into a two-piece suit, but Peter had definitely gotten changed in worse places… he wasn't sure what that said about him and so decided not to dwell on it further. He stepped out into the blue lit bathroom, tugging at the corners of his jacket to straighten it out at the top.

Peter braced his hands on the bathroom sink top and looked at the mirror and at the face staring back. His eyes were looking a lot better compared to how they had appeared at lunch time which was a relief, though Peter couldn’t predict how they might look by the end of the memorial. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect but knew that Pepper’s speech was likely to be emotional. He ran a quick hand through is hair to neaten it out a bit more and looked himself up and down. The quicker this was over, the better.

The drive to City Hall was quiet and a lot shorter than Peter would have liked. He'd expected a little more than the mere ten minutes it took to drive around the corner to gather his thoughts and make himself presentable. Pepper sat alongside Happy in the front of the car, quiet and poised as ever. Peter was sat in the middle of the backseat with his aunt and young Morgan who had insisted she didn't want to sit in the cramped middle seat. Naturally Peter had copped the fall. Morgan had her eyes fixed outside the window and was playing distractedly with one of Peter's hands.

"How are you feeling?" May said quietly, though in the dead silence of the car she might as well have been speaking into a megaphone.

"Alright." Peter said. He was neither good nor bad, in fact after his breakdown in the Lab and then everything else that had happened that afternoon, he was feeling sort of numb. It was a strange feeling and he only hoped that it wasn’t because his emotions were barricaded by a shaky wall that could collapse at any point.

"All right everyone, it's time." Happy said, pulling the car to a smooth stop at a designated parking spot that had been sectioned off for Pepper's entrance.

Happy looked sideways at Pepper and squeezed her hand in solidarity. She smiled back weakly, took a deep breath and opened her door with a soft click. As soon as she did Peter's senses were assaulted by the thrumming noise of shouting press and flashing cameras.

"Don't worry kid." Happy said hearing Peter's loud sigh in response to the crowds of press that were awaiting them. "They've been cornered off to the back, they won't bother you once you get further in towards the stage."

"Come on sweetie." Pepper said, having reached and opened Morgan's door.

"What about Peter?" Morgan asked, keeping a firm hold of Peter's hand.

"I'll be right behind you." Peter said squeezing her hand before pulling it gently from her own.

Morgan frowned and her eyes seemed to doubt him. It made Peter's heart hurt to think of the distrust and why Morgan felt that way. Tony had probably said something similar to her the last time she had seen him. It reminded Peter too much of the way that he had felt after his parents had died.

Morgan's brow furrowed and Peter thought for a moment that she was going to insist that he accompany them, but she relented and allowed herself to be taken out into the waiting eyes of the thousands gathered outside City Hall.

It was the first public memorial since Tony's death. The world had been in such a state following the snap and the return of half the population that Pepper had postponed any sort of public vigil until now. She had wanted the official funeral to be private anyway, the break had enabled her family and Tony's closest friends to mourn him first, before that privilege was shared with the rest of the world. It hadn't stopped the Iron Man shrines that Peter had seen popping up around the city.

Once Pepper and Morgan had made it through the press Happy turned to Peter and nodded to the door. "Our turn."

May reached over to squeeze Peter's shoulder as he braced himself against the door that Morgan had just exited from. He took a deep breath and held it, feeling his heart slow before letting the breath out again as he slowly pushed the door open. As soon as he had he wanted to retreat back behind the protection of the tinted windows and pretend that he wasn't here. But he knew he couldn't… he had to get through this, he owed it to Tony.

"Alright, head down the centre and towards the right, you'll see the others waiting by the stage." Happy told him, holding the door open so that May could follow.

Peter kept his eyes trained on the ground as he walked swiftly through the pathway that divided the press around him. The cameras flashed and Peter raised a hand to shield his eyes from the painful brightness of it all, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

What on earth were these people photographing him for? They didn't know he was Spider-Man, they couldn’t. Right now, he was just Peter Parker, a high school nobody. Were they just keen to get his photo after seeing him exit the same car as Tony's immediate family?

"Peter Parker, what can you tell us about your relationship to Tony Stark? We'd love a statement!" Someone yelled to his left.

"Some have labelled you Stark's protégé, what do you have to say to that Mr Parker?" Another woman yelled, getting far too close to Peter's face for comfort.

The question made Peter stop in his tracks, heart thundering.

Protégé?

Was this a joke?

"Peter, honey?" May said reaching his side and putting a comforting hand on his back.

"I can't." Peter said his voice thick with emotion. He was beginning to feel out of control, all the sounds and sights around him weren't helping at all.

"Yes, you can." Happy said putting a firm hand on Peter's shoulder and walking him forward. In that moment it was all Peter needed to stop himself from falling apart in the middle of what the press seemed to think was a reality programme or some sort of approved conference, rather than the memorial of the man who had saved their lives.

Protégé?

Happy steered Peter through the people and round to the right, avoiding the thousands that had gathered before the stage. As they walked, a roped off area of chairs came into view and Peter caught sight of the other Avengers. He spotted Bruce first, his huge form putting him head and shoulders above everyone else. Beside him were Wanda, Sam and Bucky, all dressed respectfully in black. Representing Wakanda in her brother's absence was Shuri, dressed in what appeared to be a combination of traditional Wakandan mourning clothes and a black floor length dress. An empty seat that read Peter Parker had been placed between Shuri and Carol Danvers, with Nick Fury to her right. Behind them sat Valkyrie, on behalf of New Asgard, along with Stephen Strange, Nebula and Thor, both of whom had seemingly made the trip back from wherever it was they had been in space in order to attend the memorial. Alongside them were Scott, Hope and Clint.

"May will be right over here if you need anything, and I'm just up there." Happy said indicating the stage at the front of the still growing crowd. "If you need anything just shoot me a text, or I'm sure one of these sods will be able to help you."

"Thanks, Happy." Peter said, surprising the man by hugging him quickly and tightly. "Don't know what I'd be doing without you."

"It's what I do." Happy said supportively as Peter drew back again. "I did it for Tony and you can be darn sure I'll do it for you too." Happy's voice cracked slightly with emotion and he pulled a handkerchief out to dab at his eyes as he left Peter with the Avengers and took his place up on the stage beside Colonel Rhodes, Morgan and Pepper.

Peter was gestured into the area by a man in a smart suit with an ear piece. Peter nodded his thanks and made his way slowly over to his seat.

Bruce squeezed his arm as he passed, and Peter smiled weakly in response. He nodded a couple of greetings and froze when Thor rose from his seat to embrace Peter in a tight hug. Thor's beard was damp with tears, but it didn't stop Peter from returning the hug with vigour. Who knew when he'd next get to see the god of thunder.

Peter sat down quietly in between Carol and Shuri.

"Good to see you again, Peter." Carol said smiling at him sympathetically, "I wish it were under different circumstances."

"Me too.' Peter said returning the smile as much as he could bring himself to.

"It is sad, yet beautiful at the same time." Shuri said and Peter glanced at her, ready to ask what she meant. Her eyes, however, were cast out to the crowd before them that was beginning to quieten now that Pepper had moved up to the podium and the microphone that sat on it.

Peter had managed to keep his eyes down as he had walked to his seat but now that he was away from the press and somewhat off to the side, out of the prying eyes of the public, he took the time to take in the scene before him. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people were cramped outside the front of City Hall, spilling out over the sidewalk and onto the road. Those who couldn’t fit were up in the buildings surrounding the square, with windows open so they could hear and see what was happening below. Peter knew that somewhere amongst that crowd were his classmates. He spotted them pretty quickly, the yellow Midtown blazers standing out clearly in the crowd. He picked out MJ and Ned easily and watched them for a while. As though he could feel Peter’s eyes on him Ned looked to the right, catching sight of Peter sitting in the front row of seats with the other Avengers. Ned’s jaw dropped open in shock and Peter smiled weakly as Ned hastily grabbed MJ’s attention, indicating where Peter was sitting. Even from where he was sitting Peter could see MJ tilt her heard in surprise and something like realisation dawned on her face, followed quickly by a wry smile that made Peter nervous. She elbowed Flash next to her, pointing at where Peter was sitting. Before he could meet Flash’s eyes Peter turned back to the crowd, continuing to take in the sight before him. Deep down he knew that he would have enjoyed the look of shock on Flash’s face but right now it didn’t seem to matter. After everything that had happened, Flash’s poking and prodding seemed like the childish concerns of a high school student, and sitting up there with the Avengers, Peter didn’t really feel like one.

Look back out over the crowd Peter could see that everyone held a candle of some kind and, as the sky had darkened considerably now, light was beginning to spread as people passed around their lighters or simply shared their flame with the person standing beside them. The light spread as the chatter died and even the press quietened, save for the occasional flash of a camera. As Peter's eyes drifted over the crowd in front of him, he felt something akin to being punched in the stomach. Every other child - no it had to be more than that - was wearing some sort of Iron Man memorabilia. Mostly masks, though Peter could see T-Shirts and toys as well.

"Thank you all for gathering today, I cannot express how much it means to my family… how much it would have meant for Tony, to see you all here today." Pepper began her speech, her voice crackling out over the speakers that were set up around the perimeter of the crowd.

Peter's eyes followed the crowd, so intently that Pepper's voice became a sort of background noise. He didn't do it to disrespect her, in fact if anything he did it out of extreme respect for Pepper’s speech giving skills. He knew the effect that her eulogy to Tony Stark would have on him. He knew what Pepper was going to say, he had already heard the more authentic version at Tony's real funeral and the words had stuck with him so strongly that he wasn't sure he could take hearing it again. So instead he focused on the crowd, he watched the emotions of the strangers before him as a way to prevent his own from causing him pain, and slowly he began to dissociate from the situation at hand. He watched as a woman clutched her husband and son to her tightly, squeezing both their hands and looking up to the sky, which had turned a mottled grey in the dimming light, as though thanking god for giving Tony Stark the strength to save her family. Two brothers stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder, thanking Tony Stark for bringing them back to life in time to say farewell to their aged mother, allowing her to pass in peace. A father steadied his young son, who was perched atop his shoulders, and squeezed the six-year old's hands, thanking fate for taking them together during the Snap and then thanking Tony Stark for having the power to bring them both back. A boy, barely 17 stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, hiding the yellow and red spray paint stained fingers that had created yet another Iron Man mural not thirty minutes ago. His father disapproved but that didn't stop him paying respect to the hero that the world had so desperately needed. A young woman stood alone, she had been alone before the snap and was alone after it, but Tony Stark's sacrifice had brought her back to life so she had a duty to do something with it this time, in fact, she had just been successful in her application to Stark Industries and would be starting in the fall. Beside her a young girl took her hand, helping to light the candle grasped in her palms with her own. As it's light lit up her face, she smiled.

Peter looked out over the people before him, their faces lit by the warm light of candles and the many emotions displayed there. In that moment it really hit him how many lives that Tony Stark had touched in his lifetime. There was sincerity on every face, uniting them all in the face of grief. None of those faces held the bitterness that Peter had seen in the six people who had broken into Stark Industries that afternoon. He had noticed the bitterness in himself even, the regret at having lost his parents, uncle Ben and then Tony Stark and not being able to do anything to stop any of it. There was the annoyingly persistent feeling that there was something Peter could have, should have done better to make sure that Tony had lived to see his daughter grow up. In that moment Peter made the conscious decision to put the bitterness behind him. He wouldn't allow himself to become like Daniel, destroyed by anger and regret. Peter would honour Tony's memory, he'd continue Tony's legacy to the best of his ability and hopefully one day feel that he would have made Tony proud. At least that was how he felt deep down but given his present situation and the internal conflict he was feeling about being Spider-Man, it would likely be a little more complicated than that.

Peter was struggling to see past the mistiness in his eyes at this point and started slightly when Nick Fury reached past Carol to pass him a handkerchief. Peter took it wordlessly and pressed it to his eyes as he let the tears fall quietly. The feeling of the soft cotton against his eyes grounded him once more and all his senses returned to him.

Shuri took a hold of his left hand gently, grasping Bucky's beside her as one by one, the Avenger's took their comrades hands in solidarity and stood. Those amongst the crowd who had been sitting now rose. At the front of the crowd Happy, Morgan and Rhodey came to stand beside Pepper.

"Please join us in a moment of silence." Pepper said emotionally, stepping off the podium and pulling Morgan into her arms.

Peter breathed deeply in the quiet hush that fell as some bowed their head in grief, whilst others cast their eyes to the sky in thanks. It was not quite silent though. All throughout the crowd people were passing whispers of 'we will not forget'.

Peter felt the tears falling from his eyes once more and bit his lip to keep from letting a quiet sob escape. On his left Carol Danvers squeezed his hand, a reminder that he wasn't alone. The people around him, this amazing group of individuals who all made the conscious decision every day to put their powers to good use and help the people around them. They who had lost but come back stronger than ever. Peter had always felt somewhat separate due to his age but in that moment, he felt he stood on equal ground with the other Avengers, he really felt like he was part of something. It was a feeling he didn't want to give up.

Stay to the right of the crowd, May will join you soon and I'll swing the car round to pick you both up.

Peter read Happy's message again to be sure that he was in the right place. He stood weakly on his tippy toes as he peered out over the dispersing crowd, casting an ear out for the sound of May's voice but hearing nothing notable.

"Queens." Said a quiet voice and Peter started, spinning to his left.

"Mr Rogers?" Peter asked curiously, looking at the old man now standing beside him.

"Do I look that different?" said the slightly older (ok perhaps slightly was being too polite) version of Captain America. Peter had no idea how Steve was still able to sneak up on him even in his old age.

"No- uh no of course not." Said Peter, stumbling over his words awkwardly and looking Cap up and down.

"Good to see you again kid." Steve said smiling. "How are you holding up?"

"Yeah I'm ok." Peter said trying for a light tone but failing miserably. "Why weren't you with everyone at the front?"

"I wanted to be out among the crowd for a bit." Steve said. "Plus, it’d be a little difficult to live life normally if everyone knows my identity again." Steve looked up the buildings towering around them, lit brightly against the now dark backdrop of the sky. "Will we catch you swinging around New York any time soon? It would be good to have you out there again."

"Ah… well my suit got kind of fried today and it's broken now." Peter said solemnly, looking down at his shiny black shoes.

"So?"

Peter frowned and looked up at Steve. "What do you mean ‘so’? I can't exactly 'swing around New York' without the suit."

"So fix it." Steve said as though it were obvious. "They're calling you Stark's protégé out there and I don't doubt that you can live up to that title."

"Well I don't know… it's not really that simple." Peter said scratching the back of his head.

"I don't know kid, it sounds pretty simple to me." Steve said warmly, clapping Peter on the back. Peter twisted his head as a car beeped in their direction and saw Happy waiting for him on the other side of the street.

"I gotta-" Peter began but turned to find that Steve had left, “go…”. A bobbing blue cap disappearing into the crowd was the only indication that the retired Captain America had even been there at all.

Peter frowned but crossed the street anyway, conscious of the way that Steve's words were now ringing through is head and the fact that his backpack, and more importantly his suit was in the back of Happy's car.

So fix it.

Peter was silent as Happy drove them all back to Stark Industries, Cap's words buzzing in his head.

"Peter?" Pepper said and Peter started, looking around and realising that Pepper was now outside, speaking to him through the window that Happy had put down. "A word?"

Peter nodded wordlessly and popped the car handle, pushing the door open as he stepped out into the slight chill of the night. He couldn't help being slightly apprehensive of what Pepper wanted to talk to him about. It was no doubt something to do with her ominous comment about his ‘future at Stark Industries’ she had mentioned earlier and the lab on the 27th floor which they hadn't had the chance to talk about yet.

"I know it's not the best timing and I'm sure that you're tired after everything that happened today…" Pepper pulled a clear folder from her handbag and extended it to Peter. He recognised the logo of Stark Industries on its surface. "We want you here… Tony would have wanted you here. Of course, it's entirely your decision and if you decide you want to focus on school I completely understand. But we could really use you."

Peter frowned. "You mean you could use my brain."

Pepper smiled, "No… we could use Peter Parker, every part of him."

Peter's brow furrowed further into what could have resembled a scowl to someone who didn't know him very well. Pepper could practically see the cogs working in his brain as he thought.

"I really don't think that I am cut out for all this. That lab, everything that Mr Stark talked about… I just don't think that I could do all that."

"Don't you get it Peter? You already were before the Snap, whether that was as Spider-Man or not you were helping people, people that need help. Tony could see it. I see it. So why don't you?"

Peter didn't know what to say to that.

"Just take the file and have a read over it. The contract doesn't have a starting date yet so it's whenever you feel that you are ready. There’s no rush but I hope you seriously consider it." Pepper said and Peter slowly took the file from her. She squeezed his shoulder once and went back to the car to talk to May.

Peter looked down at the file and the logo on its surface. Stark Industries. This place had become something of a haven for Peter from the troubles of being a high school student, and, occasionally, the struggles of being Spider-Man. Tony had given him a place to work, to put his brain into practical use and try and change the world even if it was only one or two tiny steps at a time.

"Peter we better get going!" May called out the open window from where Happy was waiting to drive them back home.

"Just give me a second!" Peter said, slinging his backpack round to his chest and rooting through it to find his earpiece case. His hands brushed past Tony's hard drive and the cool metal casing of his broken suit. His fingers closed around the black plastic of his earpiece and he pulled it out hastily.

"Karen?" He asked having gotten one of the buds into his ear.

"Hello Peter? How was the memorial?" Karen said immediately responding to his voice.

"It was ok. I just need to talk to you for a moment."

"Of course."

"I've just been offered a job at Stark Industries…" Saying it out loud seemed to make everything more real.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks. I just don't know if I should take it? You saw how I was in the Spider suit the other night and that wasn’t even under pressure.”

“I have been researching more strategies to cope with panic attacks should they happen again in the future.” Karen said after a moment, her artificial brain searching for what Peter needed from her.

“It’s not just that though… I haven’t really been Spider-Man this last month. I don’t know if I’m cut out to do it anymore… I don’t know if I’m worthy…” Peter said, the words tasted bad as the left his mouth.

"I have sent a scan of your body and vitals that was taken by the suit today to your phone." Karen said.

Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise and fished his phone out of his pocket, opening the email that he had just received from Karen.

"In the left-hand corner, you will see a rundown of your hormones, in particular I recorded the level of dopamine, if you compare this with the time you took the suit out and had the panic attack the levels are drastically different."

"How did you manage to do that." Peter said as he brought both scans up side by side. Despite wearing the suit both times, his body seemed to be in two very different states.

"I can explain to you another time but what I am trying to get across is that you were happy being Spider-Man today."

"Happy? It was so stressful though."

"The hormone doesn't lie. Nor does the audio-visual footage that the suit collected today, shall I show some of those?"

"No, no need. I get what you are saying." Peter said.

"Perhaps we can see about getting clinical help for your panic attacks. From then I believe that you will be right back on track to where you were five years ago. I know you still enjoy being Spider-Man, Peter, the science doesn't lie."

"Ok, say that I do love being Spider-Man and I still have what it takes. How do you know that I still have what it takes as Peter Parker, especially a Peter Parker who works at Stark Industries with a private lab? I'm damaged goods Karen. I've lost almost everyone important in my life and I've been powerless to stop it every single time."

"I did not think you were the type to give up Peter. I cannot convince you of your own worth, it would be meaningless for me to try - that is something you have to figure out yourself." Karen said and then fell silent.

Peter waited for her to say something more, but it appeared she had effectively ‘hung up’ on their communication. "Rude." Peter muttered taking the ear piece out again.

He knew he loved being Spider-Man. Karen was right about the Dopamine, he hadfelt good today. That moment when the suit found him as he fell had been terrifyingly wonderful and had made him realise exactly how much he had missed being Spider-Man, how much he would miss it if he were to actually give up. But working at SI would be a whole other step up - he was barely in control of himself, he didn't know what exactly being a proper employee, not just an intern anymore, would entail. Again, he looked down at the file clamped tightly in his hands.

You're good enough.

Tony's words in the recorded message from the lab spun through his head over and over until slowly he started believing it.

They're calling you Stark's protégé out there and I don't doubt that you can live up to that title.

Peter didn't feel he deserved that title quite yet… but he was sure that he could do something with his brain. Surely, he could put what Mr Stark had taught him to good use somehow? But where to start, he wasn’t ready to accept the position just yet, but his mind was awake now and he felt the need to do something.

So fix it.

Peter's mind darted to his broken suit sitting in the back of Happy’s car. Perhaps that was the first step. Fix the machine and then turn his attention to fixing himself. One step at a time.

Suddenly his brain started going a million miles an hour, darting to solutions for the suit, perhaps he might even make some additions of his own. There was so much that he wanted to do, and his fingers were itching to work. He hadn't felt like this for a month. He hadn't even wanted to look at tech since the battle. Something had changed today.

"We'll see you soon Peter." Pepper said hopefully, walking back over to him holding a sleepy Morgan in her arms.

Peter bit his lip and nodded, his mind still spinning as thoughts flew through it. Pepper walked past him towards Stark Industries entrance. She had just reached the doors when Peter's mind snapped into a decision and he jumped forward, running after Pepper.

"Wait!"

Pepper turned around, eyebrows raised in question as Peter reached her.

"Wait…" Peter clutched the file to his chest. "I don't have an answer yet, but I'd like to take the first step to maybe having a decision."

"What are you suggesting?" Pepper said curiously.

"My suit…I broke it today. Let me stay over at the lab this weekend. I'll fix it. I have to fix it. I think that might help me get back into my old swing." Peter explained, trying not to babble.

"I don't have a problem with it, that lab is there for your use." Pepper said mulling it over. "If May says its ok, you're welcome to stay."

"Thanks." Peter said grinning and dashing back to the car, if Karen could take a scan of his body now, he was sure that she would be able to see a ton of Dopamine. With excitement thrumming through his veins Peter threw open the car door and pulled his very best puppy eyes out to plead with May.

"Uh oh," May said recognising the expression that had tricked her into buying candy and ice creams when he was younger, "what do you want?"

"Well," Peter began, searching for the best combination of words that might encourage May to let him get away with this. "Pepper has offered me a job here at Stark Industries and I've told her I'll consider it, I'm still not sure what is happening with the future."

May nodded approvingly but was not as surprised as Peter had expected. She eyed the file he held, she’d most likely want to look through the contract herself later.

"But in the meantime, my Spidey suit is fried, and I really need it back up and running so I can take it out and y'know start being Spider-Man again…" Peter said trailing off and looking pleadingly at May. His gaze shifted to Happy who was smiling knowingly. "So, Pepper said it's alright if I stay here at SI over the weekend and work on my suit in my lab."

"Hold up." May said putting a finger up. "Your lab?"

"Yeah… it was supposed to be a birthday present from Mr Stark." Peter explained.

"Wow ok…" May said thoughtfully. "I don't know Peter, you'll be having finals soon and that's really important for college - yes I know you've already gotten several scholarships, but I thought we were holding out for MIT? I don't really like the idea of you being at this lab all weekend either, I know how you and Tony used to get with work - he was the only reason you took any breaks!"

"Yes, I am but this could really help." Peter pleaded. "You know what this last month has been like, I need this May. I lost part of myself at the end of last month and today was the first time that I really felt like I had gained some of that back, I don't want to stop now."
 

May frowned sceptically and looked at Happy, who seemed to be all for Peter's proposal.

"Please," Peter sighed defeatedly, "if you let me stay, I promise I'll think seriously about talking to a counsellor."

May's head snapped towards Peter in shock. "Sorry? What made you change your mind? On Monday you wouldn't even let me get a sentence out about counselling."

"Ah well Karen talked to me and I don't know… maybe it could be a good idea?"

"Oh, what? So the robot's advice matters more."

"Well she does sorta know everything, or at least has the capacity to." Peter shrugged sheepishly.

"Get down her idiot." May said holding her arms out for a hug. "You better get some rest tonight though! None of this working all night and all day ok? I expect to get texts keeping me in the loop with what is happening, and you better be home in time for dinner on Sunday otherwise you are going to be seriously grounded."

“I’ll make sure he is.” Happy assured her helpfully.

"Thank you." Peter said squeezing his aunt tightly.

"Take care of yourself, do you need me to drop anything by tomorrow morning?" May asked.

"I think I should still have some clothes from last time hopefully." Peter said only realising later how silly that was – surely they wouldn’t have kept his clothes for five years?

"Alright, keep in contact and I'll see you Sunday." May said withdrawing from the hug and looking at Happy. "Oh don't give me that smug look, I know this is what you wanted."

"See you later kid." Happy said smiling and tipped his head to Peter.

Peter grinned and dashed around the other side of the car to get to the boot, high fiving Happy on his way. Happy popped the back of the car open and Peter grabbed his backpack, shouldering it and feeling relief at the weight of the suit against his back. Satisfied, Peter walked back over to the entrance of SI.

"Looks like that is a yes then?" Pepper said adjusting Morgan in her arms.

"Yep." Peter said grinning. "Just for the weekend, I won't be in anyone's way… although if I could borrow the old room I used to sleep in that would be awesome."

"Of course, not much has changed though." Pepper said leading the way into the still bustling building. "Tony could never bring himself to get rid of your stuff."

"Welcome Spider-Man." Said the generic elevator bot once Peter had reached the 27th floor.

"It is good to have you back again Peter. Thank you for your help this afternoon. Are we likely to see you here often?" Friday asked, her voice crackling through the intercom of the elevator.

"Not sure, Friday." Peter said shrugging as he looked out down the corridor that led towards the lab at the end. "Still deciding."

"Of course, let me know if there is anything you need."

"Thanks Friday." Peter said stepping out into the corridor and getting a weird sense of déjà vu.

He tugged his backpack closer to his back and pushed up the sleeves of one of his old hoodies that he must have left last time he was at SI five years ago. Sure enough, the guest room Peter had used in the personal Stark quarters at SI was still the way that he had left it, along with a duffel bag containing several changes of clothes. The jumper had a faintly old smell about it, but Peter couldn't really bring himself to care - it was better than keeping on the suit he had been in for the memorial.

Yet again Peter was asked to say his name at the doors, and he obliged, watching them slide open to reveal the dark abyss that was the lab… his lab.

Peter was prepared for the light this time when he switched the electricity on and wasn't as shocked as he took the room in.

"Karen?" Peter called out and watched as the holo-tables jumped to life and her familiar voice crackled over the intercom.

"Welcome back Peter, I'm glad to see you have made this decision. I really think it is wise."

"Yeah, yeah. I know you're always right."

"One of the side effects of being Artificial Intelligence I am afraid."

Peter grinned and laughed at her.

"I guess you couldn't just open the glass case, it had to break huh?" Peter said looking over to his suit cases and seeing that the one that had held the Iron Spider suit was now in shattered pieces on the floor.

"Time was of the essence. I'll put an order in for a new one." Karen replied.

"What is the plan?" Karen asked once Peter had set his backpack down on one of the counter tops and started to unpack it.

"Fix my suit I guess?" Peter said pulling out the folded-up suit and laying it out fully on the table. "Though I am not entirely sure where to start."

"I'll bring up the schematics so you can see everything on a holo-table." Karen said and seconds later a hologram layout of his suit appeared on the holo-table to his left.

"Thanks." Peter said and enlarged it, looking at the red areas which Karen had identified as areas in need of attention.

He blew the hologram up bigger so that he could actually pull apart some of the hologram wires and try and mimic what he would need to do with the suit. He connected a wire wrongly and holographic sparks exploded, it was like he was playing a game of operation. "Ah that was dumb," Peter said at his mistake and scratched his head, looking closer at the suit. "Hey Karen, if I write you a list of tools, I need can we somehow get them up here?"

Peter was so distracted by the hologram that he didn't register the clicking and whirring of an object shifting around the corner.

"No need, it appears that Mr Stark already bought everything you’d need, check the draws to your left for tools."

Indeed, when Peter opened the stainless-steel draws beneath the workbench, he found all the tools he could have possibly wanted and more. Peter got out what he needed onto the bench and laid everything out neatly. He placed his suit at the centre with his tools just to the right, and to his left was his backpack, Tony's hard drive and his new access card which he couldn't help admiring every now and then.

Something had changed in him. Perhaps Shuri's invention frying his suit was exactly the motivation that Peter needed to begin working through his grief. He now was able to comprehend why he had been so averse to any contact with the suit or even with the lab as he had seen earlier that day. His heart and his brain weren't processing his grief, they hadn't been. No matter how much he cried, no matter how much regret he felt, no matter how many times he chose to feel numb instead … Peter wasn't allowing himself to process the passing of Tony Stark. And it was about damn time he start. He had been beating himself up for a month, subconsciously punishing himself for something he couldn't change and he probably couldn't have stopped if what Doctor Stephen Strange had said was true. Tony wouldn't have wanted Peter to keep moping. Peter realised that now.

Just like he was sure Tony might have done, Peter began to work as he processed his thoughts. He let his hands take over as he tinkered on the suit and let his brain flow free, not stopping himself or beating himself up for thinking of Tony or Natasha or the battle with Thanos. He let himself feel sad as he remembered Tony. He decided that just as he wasn't going to allow grief to make him bitter, he wasn't going to let sadness or emotion be an enemy. Emotion wasn't weakness but if he let this all build up things were just going to get worse and worse and Peter didn't want that to happen.

While Peter worked, he chatted on and off with Karen, mostly about mundane things. He had been working for almost half an hour when a crash around the corner made him jump. Was there someone else in here with him? Surely not.

"Hello?" he called out anyway.

He got up from the workbench and followed the wall around past glass windows towards what was a larger work space, in fact it looked more like a testing space. Peter switched on another set of lights and expected to come face to face with some horror, he even braced himself for it, wondering whether he should race back and grab a web shooter for protection.

Instead it was a rather interesting looking robot. It stood by the glass window, seemingly looking out at the wonderful view the lab had of New York.

It took a moment before Peter recognised the robot as one of Tony's.

"Dum-E?" Peter said hesitantly and the robot whirred, turning its claw towards him and clicking softly.

Peter watched as the robot trundled towards him surprisingly quickly and stepped out of the way as it went into the work space he had just left.

"What are you doing here?" Peter asked, following close behind.

Dum-E of course did not respond and instead it was Karen who spoke up. "Security footage shows Happy Hogan depositing Dum-E here this afternoon before you went for dinner."

"Damn." Peter pondered. "Guess Happy really thought that I would come back right?"

"It appears he has faith in you."

"Looks like I have some expectations to fulfil." Peter said returning to the work bench. Honestly! Pepper offering him a job. The press and Steve Rogers calling him Tony's protégé. Now Happy seemingly knowing Peter even better than he thought he knew himself. Peter was starting to realise quite how big the shoes he was trying to fill were.

He watched Dum-E for a little bit but the robot mostly busied itself with cleaning up the shattered glass on the floor near Peter's suit cases.

"Thanks Dum-E." He called out and the robot clicked and whirred in response.

Peter managed to work peacefully for another fifteen minutes before he was startled by the sound of Dum-E bumping into the large holo-table in the centre of Peter's workspace, causing the dormant device to burst to life. The robot fumbled as it dropped the dustpan full of glass and Peter sighed - this was probably why Tony had called it Dum-E.

The robot whirred what sounded oddly like disappointment. It collected the class up again and set the dustpan on the holo-table this time - seemingly leaving it for Peter to take care of. The movement somehow brought to life the video that had been playing when Peter had left his lab earlier that afternoon. 

"I'm sure things aren't ideal right now but know that whatever life throws at you, you have the strength to get through it all, no matter what, I know you-" Tony had burst to life against the holo-table, scaring Dum-E so badly that the robot almost fell over. Peter jumped up to pause the video. Mr Stark flickered slightly in his paused state and Dum-E clicked sadly. He turned his head to Peter and clacked his claws together once before turning back to the screen.

Peter sighed deeply. If he was going to keep using the lab and potentially take a job at SI, then he should hear the rest of what past-Tony had to say.

With a shaky hand, Peter reached out and pressed the play button, watching as the hologram came back into focus and Tony began to speak once more.

"-can do it. I've never met a kid like you before Peter, and no I'm not just talking about your weird Spidey powers. You, Peter Parker, are enough. In fact, you're more than enough, you have such a huge capacity to do good and what's even more amazing about that is that you want to."

Peter breathed deeply and tried his best to believe the words that Tony was saying. But his eyes were beginning to sting again, and the words were so overwhelmingly positive that he struggled to process it all. Somehow, he felt so different compared to the first time he had been at the lab. He really meant what he had said to May earlier, Peter had lost a part of himself and it seemed that things were slowly starting to get back on track - maybe watching the rest of Tony's message would help him somehow.

"I know I was just a mentor, but you have to know that I love you, kid. You are so unapologetically good. You're one of the few of us that are. I know you're young, but I can tell already that you are going to do seriously incredible things and I intend on being there every step of the way-" Peter's heart tugged painfully at that, "because someone has to take the credit for teaching you so well, right?"

Peter chuckled emotionally.

"Anyway, this is dragging on a little bit, so I'll wrap it up here. If all goes according to plan, I'll be seeing you in a few days and this video will be deleted and buried so deep it’ll never see the light of day. If not? Then hopefully neither of us cry too much." Tony turned around about to press pause but then seemed to think better of it.

"One last thing. I can remember the first time I met you so clearly. I remember asking you why you did the things you did, why you were Spider-Man, not just the kid with freakish powers." Tony said crossing his arms. "And you told me that when you could do the things you can, but you don't the bad things that happen are on your shoulders. That's stuck with me a long-time kid, who knew the words of a fifteen-year-old could be so influential. I trust that you're still sticking true to your moral code." With that the hologram shut off and the video ended and Peter was left feeling almost winded with grief.

Peter bowed his head and tried to push off the short burst of shame he felt. Had he stayed true to his own code? He could remember telling Tony that all those years ago. It was true then. And as Peter searched his heart, he felt that it had to be true now too.

Peter pat Dum-E awkwardly on the head and went back to his work table. He stood there looking down at the suit, he had managed to piece back together most of it, but it was a slow process and it would probably take most of the night before the suit was fully functioning again.

As he worked, he continued to think of what Tony had said. Yes, Peter was still a bit of a mess, what had happened last month had broken him, or at least part of him. But Peter recognised recovery as a process, he was only now starting to get back on his feet and take the first shaky steps towards finding that part of himself he had lost with Tony Stark's passing. He still wanted to stay true to the words he had told Tony all those years ago and it would take time, but he was sure that he would get there. It was all about putting one foot in front of the other.

"Karen?"

"Yes Peter?"

"What's the weather like tonight?" Peter asked casually.  

"Clear sky tonight, approximately 70 degrees at present. There is little to no chance of rain and a north westerly breeze of 7 miles per hour."

"I'd say that sounds like perfect weather to take this suit out on the town, what do you say?" Peter asked as he worked.

"Sounds perfect to me, Peter."

The moon was high above Peter's head as he crouched on top of Stark Industries. The head of his Iron Spider suit was down, allowing a soft breeze to ruffle his hair. Peter closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling for a moment. He breathed in deeply, the air seemed cleaner up here than it did on the streets below.

Slowly, Peter stretched his arms up over his head and enjoyed the feeling of stretching after being cramped over his work bench for so long. As he did the plated surface of the suit shifted with him, clinking as it did. Once Peter had stretched upwards, he swung his arms by his side and tried to loosen his shoulders up a bit.

"Vitals are normal." Karen said in his ear.

"Yeah I feel ok." Peter said looking out over New York.

"Where would you like to begin?"

"I don't know, find me something interesting?"

"There are eight police vehicles currently in pursuit of a vehicle on Spring St, reports say the assailants have just robbed a bank." Karen provided helpfully and Peter grinned.

"Sounds perfect."

"I have noted a significant spike in your adrenaline Peter."

"Even better."

With that, Peter's helmet snapped up to protect his head as he took a few steps back and braced himself. Kicking off with his right leg he ran across the roof of Stark Industries, perhaps his soon to be place of employment, and launched himself off the side. While the suit blocked out the chill of the air that was streaming past him, the feeling of falling was still as incredible as ever. It was the closest Peter would get to flying. With the expert precision of someone who had done it for years, Peter aimed his web to the nearest building and shot it upwards, eyes flicking up to the night sky as he did.

He wrapped his hands around the web and allowed himself to soar upwards, letting out a cathartic yell of triumph as he did.

The recovery was going to be a process. But he had taken the first leap towards it and was prepared to put the effort in now. He would be Peter Parker, he would always be Peter Parker and no one could take that away from him. He would be the Peter Parker who tried to make Ned laugh each day and tried harder to earn a smile out of MJ. The Peter Parker who watched out for his aunt and made sure he didn’t worry her too much. He would continue to be the Peter Parker that Morgan Stark might need, an older brother watching out for her and always ready to help. To Happy and Pepper he would, perhaps, be the Peter Parker who worked at Stark Industries while, perhaps, completing a degree at MIT. To Tony Stark, Peter Parker had always been enough. Tony had been the first one to see the light of Peter Parker, to see the good that he could accomplish. It was Tony that had taught him that he was Peter Parker first and Spider-Man second, that Peter Parker was just as important and just as worthy of his power with or without a mask.

Peter would do his best to keep the memory of Tony Stark alive. He'd try his best every day to make him proud, regardless of whether or not Tony knew that and was watching over him from some unknown world, perhaps in some undiscovered timeline. Peter would grieve when he could and ask for help when he needed it and slowly, he would gain back that piece of himself that he was searching for, whose loss had made him feel broken but had now provided him with the motivation to try harder.

And he would be the Peter Parker that the people needed. He would continue trying to right the wrongs of others and help people. Not because of the expectant words of Steve Rogers, or the shouted cries of ‘protégé’ from the press. Not because Pepper had asked him to join SI or because Happy had expected him to. Peter would do it because he wanted to, because he had a sincere desire to use his power for good. That was the most important thing.

That was what made him an Avenger.

THE END