"Good luck Pete." Happy smiles at me as Natasha pulls open the door for May and I. As best I can, I smile back at Happy.
"Thanks."
First day of school all over again. Again.
Once everyone is out of the car, Natasha turns to me. "Lead the way."
Alright.
As instructed, I lead the way for May and Natasha up the main stairs, past the ornate display for the Midtown School of Science and Technology and finally up, through the main doors before turning left and into the main office.
"Oh!" I hear Morita's secretary exclaim as I walk in and see her snatch up a walkie. "Parker's here."
Sheepishly I smile at her before I hear "Keep him there." Reflexively, I turn and see that Natasha has activated her disguise and is standing beside May.
"Where have you been?" The secretary accosts me. "School started back up four days ago!"
"We'll explain that as soon as Peter gets off to class." Natasha counters firmly, garnering the secretary's ire in the form of a glare before I hear Morita's footsteps rapidly approaching.
I turn in time to see him walk in and see his face split into a smile. "Peter. Mrs. Parker. I'm glad to see you. And I'm glad you're okay."
"Principal Morita…" May smiles as I can feel Natasha's eyes behind me.
"Let's talk in my office."
I'm nudged subtly behind me toward the door before Natasha says "Get to class."
"Have a good day." May smiles at me as Morita looks at the disguised Romanoff.
"I don't think I've had the pleasure. Edward Morita."
Natasha smiles widely. "Natalie Rushman. If we can step into your office, I can explain Peter's absence. After you, sir."
Ooh.
I nervously laugh as Morita's expression completely changes to one of well disguised anger. "Very well. Follow me."
Time to go.
Tugging on my backpack straps, I slip out the door and into the hall, ducking into one of my favorite shortcuts and popping out near my locker.
Locker 1184.
08-01-64. Oh wait.
Art's first up.
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
"On a field trip!" To MoM—AHH!"
"Oh thank god, it's you. You're here. You made it after—" Ned is suddenly blustering rapidly.
Whipping around to face him, I smile and raise my hands toward his face. "Shhh…Hi."
"Uhh, hi. You're alive." Ned states the obvious.
"Yeah." I start tossing my brand new books and notebooks into my locker. "Of course I'm alive."
"Everyone around here thought you'd died in The Decimation. And with—"
I stop loading up my locker and fix him with a glare that shuts him up. "I can't talk about it."
"I knew you'd say that. Everyone has been—"
I slam my locker door shut, revealing myself to the rapidly filling hallway, causing a few people to turn and look at me. "Everyone? I don't care what everyone thinks."
And now it's time for my carefully crafted cover story.
"I got dragged into the Stark internship thing. Then when the snap happened they made me stay until everything cooled off."
Kind of.
It's still absolute chaos out there.
"The penis has risen!" I hear Flash say behind Ned, probably still about ten feet away. "Or erect or whatever…"
"I am not doing this right now." I say to Ned's face as he's still trying to catch up.
Ned's face suddenly drops dramatically. "That's it?"
"Right now, yeah. I'm bound by legal documents. More now that Stark's lawyers are in control." I growl, coming off as angrier than I intend. "I'll see you during second."
Behind both of us, Flash finally appears. "Party tonight Parker. I guess you can come. Call it a 'Survived the Decimation' party."
Survived.
It's all a game to him. Who lived and who died.
I turn on my heel, laugh hollowly and start off to art before my phone buzzes in my pocket.
'Go to that party' – Hill (A/N: Does anyone know what program you need to use in order to create iMessage screenshots for use in a fic like this?" I cannot find it, and love it when a fic uses that technique.)
I stuff my phone back into my pocket and keep walking as it buzzes three more times.
'I'm serious. It'll make you more normal.' – Hill
'Out of the office. She scared him.' – May
'Hope things go well.' – Romanoff
She did scare him if they're out this fast.
Smiling as I set my notebook down on my desk in Art Appreciation, I quickly fire off a reply to Romanoff.
"I think you scared him."
By the time I've gotten my book out, I've got two more texts.
'Not at all, I just told him the story and he accepted it. Nothing he can do other than fix your attendance.'
'Go to that party though.' - Romanoff
The bell rings a little louder than necessary as the rest of the class filters in. "You said yourself on the way that I'm about to have a weekend's worth of homework." I reply to her a final time.
Suddenly, the small of my back is gently scratched by the person sitting directly behind me. "You going to Flash's party?"
Michelle.
"I don't know." I shrug while turning to face Michelle, who looks exactly like how I left her. "I think I have a bunch of homework."
Michelle is Michelle.
"From when you were gone? Nah." She waves away my concern. "The first day not even all of the teachers showed up. We just started back for real yesterday. You didn't miss a thing."
"Oh." I blurt out. "I…guess so then?"
Oh man, that sounded terrible, even to me.
My pocket vibrates again.
I know that they said they'd be keeping an eye on me, especially today to make sure everything goes well. But this is ridiculous.
And why is Agent Hill texting me?
Technically she's supervising me. Anything related to Avenging, Spider-Man, I'm supposed to talk to her first.
I'm not even supposed to text the surviving Avengers directly.
"I'm glad you're back." Michelle suddenly says with a smile.
A very nice smile.
"Thanks." I reply as Mrs. Kramer walks in normally.
Wait, I thought—
I whip back to face Michelle and ask what is going on, but she beats me to it. "Yeah."
"Oh." I mumble feebly.
Her response is a quiet sigh. "Yeah. And I don't have to replace your chronically late ass."
Haha.
"I can't believe you're going to a party already." May says happily. "It's like you never left!"
Nervously, I laugh. "Yeah."
Why isn't she worrying sick about me?
May glances over at me briefly. "You don't sound excited."
"Just tired." I shake my head quickly.
"Do we need to turn around? Buy you a coffee?"
I quickly shake my head again. "No."
"Do you not want me driving? You said—"
"No May! I'm happy with your driving."
"Then what is it? You've been weird all day since you got home. And you said it was a boring day, outside of all the questions and attention."
My story kind of stuck, but that's because that's what everyone else kind of assumed.
Everyone thought I was tied up with Stark stuff. I couldn't possibly have been actually dead, everyone who got snapped has come back.
But they remember. Everyone kind of does. It's strange. Whatever Cap and Mr. Stark did to fix everything made space-time very jumbled.
"It's…how everyone remembers kind of what happened. Those guys dropping on New York. Chasing them. Then I'm falling from the sky and everyone's back. I don't get how everyone's just okay."
I'm not. I know I'm not. I'd know if I was.
May pulls up to the curb just before Flash's enormous house. "I don't think they are. I know most of the adults aren't. Your friends don't understand what actually happened. It was just a couple of weird days that ended with the Avengers winning."
"Winning." I barely breathe out a laugh.
Whatever this is, it isn't winning. You're happy after a win.
"You're doing great. And I'm so proud of you. I…and I think your uncle would be too."
My stomach drops precipitously as May smiles at me, clearly proud. "Thanks."
"Now go have fun. Be a normal fifteen year old kid. And text me when you're ready to go." She keeps smiling as she throws my door open for me.
"Okay." I nod, hopping out of the car then lingering at the door awkwardly.
"Bye!" She says loudly before shutting the door and darting back out into the road, leaving me stranded at the curb.
Okay.
After a moment, I turn toward Flash's house, where strobe lights and figures dancing means that the party has already started.
"You said you were already here?" I text Ned as I hit the front sidewalk.
'Yup. By the DJ table. It's not Flash btw."
Awesome.
I open the front door with a forced smile and am immediately bombarded with various "Peter! You're here!'s from everyone by the door. Smiling as quick as I can, I get away from them and find Ned as he's talking to Betty.
"—maybe a coffee shop or something—." Ned explains patiently before Betty cuts him off.
"Peter! Hey!" She lights up, then tightly hugs me as Ned turns.
"Hi, Betty. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." I apologize, then start to move to get something to drink, only for her to grab my sleeve and keep me in place.
"No, no you're not interrupting." She says, smiling too much. "I'll be right back."
Ned and I both watch her go for a moment. "I interrupted." I state the obvious.
"Yeah…" Ned answers, sounding depressed.
"I was gonna wait until—"
"No I know you were, you always do. It was her, she…"
Ned's expression suddenly changes multiple times.
"Ned?"
He blinks two or three times even as he's turning to actually look at me. "Yeah."
"What's up?"
"Nothing up. Why would something be up?"
He's lying.
I cross my arms and barely frown. "Dude."
"Nothing's up dude, I promise. You're the one something's up with."
What?
"What?" I blurt out. "No Ned, I'm fine."
Ned subtly turns and steers me to face the glass wwall looking over the river and the city. "No, you're not."
"Yes, I am. Just a little rusty from everything."
"No." Ned shakes his head. "You're not talking. You didn't talk at all in class or at school today. You're always talking."
"I'm not always talking."
"Okay, well you're always ready to talk. The only person you kind of talked to today was Michelle. Everyone else you kind of ignored."
"Blocked them out. And I talked to you, and Betty, and lots of people. What's going on? Why'd Betty act like I hadn't seen her in forever? She doesn't even really like me." I ask Ned.
Ned shrugs. "I dunno."
Really helpful. Great stuff.
"Okay. Well then, I'm going to see if I can make a sandwich or something. I'm hungry."
Ned replies by nodding and drifting off, leaving me awkwardly lingering again.
Sandwich.
Purposefully, I start toward the kitchen and Flash, who is holding court by the kitchen table. "Flash! Mind if I make a sandwich real quick? I ate early and am starving."
"Yeah, go ahead Parker. Just don't use all of the mustard or my parents will go nuts." He replies without looking at me. "Anyway—"
"Thanks." I say to Flash, who is already ignoring me for his conversation then quickly throw together a ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato along with a little bag of sour cream chips from a bowl that was sitting out for everyone to grab.
I think you can get to the roof if I follow those stairs.
Silently, I slip up the stairs, where I can hear ping pong balls bouncing off cups, laughter and music playing loudly before pushing open a door and seeing the starry night sky along with an empty rooftop.
"Finally." I say to myself.
I haven't had any time to myself all day. Woke up early for school, didn't have time to breathe there. And once I got home, May was already fretting about this party because Agent Hill texted ahead for me.
Setting down my plate on the edge of the roof, I glance up at the night sky right where I think I fell.
The video has over 50 million views on YouTube. I finally saw it at school today. I fell like a rock. Completely dead weight.
I should have been able to see it earlier, but the Compound blocked that video for me, along with a whole bunch of others.
Like the one of me holding Mr. Stark near GCT.
They couldn't hide that picture from me. I think it might end up like the picture of Armstrong on the surface of the moon, being the one that everyone associates with the moon landing. I know it ran worldwide online and trended forever.
Quickly followed by the one of everyone trying to hide Cap.
You couldn't tell how bad Stark got pounded, but Cap was obvious, even from far away.
Why'd Ned say that I didn't talk all day? I'm not talkative right now, but I think that makes sense.
He's probably mad about me not showing up until today. In my defense, I was upstate up until last night, when they moved me back here.
Turns out, the plan was never for me to go right back to school. I had to take a ton of tests, meet some administrators and sit in a lot of meetings that I wasn't allowed to talk in.
Behind me, I hear the door open, causing me to turn back and see Michelle holding a plate in one hand and two drinks in the other before laughing. "Hah. I didn't think you grabbed a drink. Here."
It's not alcoholic.
"Thanks." I smile sheepishly at her before I feel my cheeks burn and look away.
Michelle sidles up beside me, setting her plate down and looking at mine. "Are you actually hungry, or did you just want to get away?"
"I'm hungry." I defend myself, causing Michelle to laugh at me.
Great.
I open the drink Michelle brought, take a sip then ask "They tweaked the schedule?"
"Yeah." Michelle nods. "Summer got cut short by three weeks."
It's ridiculous but I guess life has to go on. Which means changes to school schedules that we've never done before.
"Do you want to be alone? I can go inside if—" She begins.
"No, I—" I start myself, then stop. "Sorry. Stay, if you want. I didn't mean to sound so mean."
Michelle smiles and opens up her chips. "I assumed that. Your tone has been all over the place today."
"No it hasn't."
"It has." She says before biting a chip with a loud crunch. "You've been quiet all day."
Not you too.
Instead of responding, I take a bite of sandwich.
Not too bad.
"I can't blame you though. You actually were there for all this stuff." Michelle observes. I shrug, then open up my chips.
"How'd you…" I start, then stop myself.
I haven't told anybody that outside of the Compound and May.
Michelle simply shrugs, her shoulder brushing mine. "I pay attention. You're not right yet."
Paying close attention.
"Are you drawing me?" I ask her, causing her to briefly tense before she shakes her head.
"No, but we share most classes, and Decathlon right? I see you a lot, why shouldn't I notice?"
I guess so? I don't know.
Not knowing what else to do, I shrug. "It's bad when even I can feel that I'm being awkward." I joke. Michelle laughs right away, then smiles at me again.
"At least you can stay on brand."
Yup. That's my brand.
"But seriously though, for just a second?" Michelle says, her face turning serious to match her tone shift. "I'm glad you're back."
"Thanks." I smile and nod, then fiddle with a chip for a moment.
"You're welcome." She answers with a smile, then together we look out across the river, and to the city, which is lit up like always, with the exception of a massive spotlight being shot straight up.
Straight up into space.
Past where I fell.
To exactly where Thor told them where Titan was.