"Peter are you sure you want to do this?" Ned asked as he stopped on the sidewalk a block away from Avengers Tower.

"Yeah I'm sure. Come on." Peter grabbed Ned's arm and dragged him forward. "Besides, this is perfect timing. Tony's going to be in DC for the next few days, so if something goes wrong at least he's not anywhere nearby."

"Is that supposed to be reassuring? Because it's not. It's really really not." Ned said nervously.

"Well you were the one worried about him killing you. This way he's too far away." Peter reasoned.

"You were the one that said I could do it without getting caught!"

"And you can! Can't you?" Peter really hoped so. If his friend tried and failed, they'd both be in deep shit. Peter couldn't even imagine what Tony would do to him. He probably wouldn't see the light of day for a year. And Ned…well Tony might actually kill Ned.

"Yeah I think so. Just…stop freaking me out." Ned muttered and glanced around as if someone might hear.

"Sorry." Peter apologized. "Just try to calm down. It's going to be fine. You've got this. We've gone over the plan a million times. Don't be nervous."

"Don't be nervous?" Ned said, sounding semi-hysterical. "I'm going to try to hack Tony Stark's AI and you're telling me not to be nervous?"

Peter sighed. "Look, if it works, it works. If it doesn't…it doesn't."

"Yeah but if it doesn't I'm a dead man. I think I should be allowed my anxiety." Ned raised his voice.

"All right fine but try to hold it together. Don't act suspicious." Peter offered.

Ned glared at him.

"Try to distract yourself. Think of something else. Like…how we won decathlon last weekend so now we get to go to DC in a couple days for nationals."

"Yeah think of DC." Ned said sarcastically. "Where I almost died last year?!"

Peter grimaced.

"You know, you're really bad at this whole reassurance thing." Ned complained. "I seriously hope your alter ego is better at it."

Peter thought so but he didn't say that to Ned since they'd reached the Tower door. He had more important things to worry about.

"Just remember…be cool. And stick to the plan." Peter reminded Ned as he grabbed the door handle.

"Ok." Ned took a deep breath. "Yeah. Be cool. I can-I can do that. Cool as a cucumber."

"Do you need to go over the plan again?" Peter paused. He didn't like how nervous Ned looked.

"No I got it. I'm good. Let's just get this over with." Ned said.

Peter nodded and opened the door with a grin. "After you."

Ned fidgeted all the way up to the penthouse, but he actually kept it together better than Peter thought he would.

"Hey FRIDAY." Peter greeted as they got off the elevator and walked toward his room.

"Good afternoon Peter." The AI said in reply.

"Is Tony home?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

"No I'm sorry Peter. He is still in DC." FRIDAY replied and Ned and Peter shared a knowing look.

When they got to his room, Peter dumped his backpack on the floor by his desk while Ned fished out two matching computer game disc cases from his backpack.

"Hey FRIDAY would it be ok if Ned uses Tony's office computer? We have a new computer game we want to try out together. I'm going to play on my computer but can Ned play on Tony's?"

There was a slight pause and Peter held his breath. He'd figured it'd be fine. Their entire plan hinged on it. If FRIDAY said no they were toast.

"I can find no reason why that would not be allowed." FRIDAY answered.

"So yes?" Peter confirmed.

"Yes Peter."

"Thanks FRIDAY." Peter grinned and then turned to Ned, ignoring the sheen of sweat on his friend's forehead. "It's the second door on the left."

Ned gave him a terse nod and left. Peter pulled out his own game disc and inserted it into his computer. His disc was the real game. Ned's was a disc he'd placed a pre-made hack on so it'd be automatically uploaded and inserted into FRIDAY's programming when he put the disc in. There were a few manual commands that needed to be entered in as well, but the way Ned had written the hack on the disc was supposed to keep FRIDAY from noticing. These next few minutes would be the moment of truth. They'd either get away with it or he'd be getting a very angry phone call very soon.

Peter watched the clock on his computer, trying to portray an air of nonchalance. One minute passed. Two. At three Peter felt himself start to break out in a sweat. Shit. It shouldn't be taking this long. Four minutes.

"Hey Peter." Ned said as came back in and Peter jumped nearly a foot in the air in surprise.

"Sorry." Ned apologized when he noticed he'd scared him. "Um the game isn't working. I tried a few different things, but I think I brought the wrong disc. I must have accidentally switched it out with one of my blank CD's."

"Oh that's ok." Peter answered and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling as he watched Ned scratch his nose. That was the signal they'd decided on to indicate success. Yes! It had worked. "I guess we can try it another time."

Ned put the disc back in his backpack and did the same with the other one once Peter took it out of the computer and handed it to him.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Peter asked. It's what they'd planned on originally if the whole thing worked and they didn't have to flee to avoid Tony murdering them.

Ned frowned. "Um…"

"What?" Peter prodded.

"There are some uh…things? In there. That maybe you should look at?" Ned stumbled nervously over the words.

Peter frowned. "Things?"

"Um…books."

"Books?" He echoed skeptically.

"Yeah like…" Ned trailed off.

"Like what?"

"Just go look. I'll be in the living room." Ned said and Peter watched him leave.

Weird.

Peter did as Ned suggested and went to Tony's office. He didn't notice anything that seemed off but there were a couple books stacked on the desk. Peter walked over and as he read the titles he felt a sensation like cold water being poured over him. Helping your Teenager Deal with Loss and Adolescent Adoption burned into his retinas. Fuck. Seriously? And Ned had seen these? Peter's cheeks burned. No way was Tony actually reading this shit. Peter's mind instantly denied the possibility, but when he looked closer he noticed there were a few places in each book that had been earmarked.

He picked one up and opened it to the first marked page. He skimmed over the paragraphs quickly and immediately felt sick. He wasn't sure if it was because Tony actually seemed to be reading this stuff to figure out how to deal with him or if it was because the short section he'd read seemed to describe his recent behavior perfectly. Instead of rifling through the rest of the marked pages, Peter shakily set the book down and left.

He strode out into the living room and sat down next to Ned.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said without looking at his friend.

"Ok." Ned said easily. "What do you want to watch?"

"I don't care. Whatever you want."

Ned picked a new comedy movie that had recently come out.

"Hey, can we hang out this weekend?" Ned asked as the opening credits started rolling.

"Um sure. Why not?" Peter frowned. He was barely paying attention to the movie or Ned's question. His mind was still stuck on those stupid books.

"Because Tony grounded you? Which really sucked by the way dude. Do you know how lame it was to have to go to homecoming alone last weekend and Flash's stupid Halloween party last night?"

"Why did you go to that anyway?"

"What? Homecoming or Flash's party?"

"Both. Either. But mainly Flash's party." Even if he hadn't been grounded, he doubt he would've gone to Flash's party. The guy was a dick. And after what happened last year, he honestly hadn't had any desire to go to homecoming either. No reason to dredge up bad memories. He'd actually been relieved to have the legitimate being grounded excuse to get him out of it.

"I don't know. Something to do." Ned shrugged. "So can we hang out or not?"

"We're hanging out right now." Peter pointed out, although he wasn't sure if Ned was technically allowed to be over right now, but Tony wasn't home to notice and FRIDAY didn't seem to have tattled on him. "But yeah I won't be grounded anymore, so we could go out and do something if you want."

"Awesome. I'm going to hold you to that."

Peter nodded and went back to pretending to watch TV. He tried to focus on the screen in front of him but all he kept seeing were those books. When had Tony gotten those books? Recently? Awhile ago? Right after he adopted him? Why did he even get them in the first place? Had there been some inciting factor? Was Peter really so messed up that Tony thought he needed them to figure out how to deal with him? And if that was the case, why in the world would Tony want to keep him? Oh god. Maybe he was regretting it. Another few minutes passed and Peter's insecurities and anxieties continued to plague him. He knew the movie wasn't going to cut it as an adequate distraction.

"I'm not really feeling this movie." He said suddenly. "Do you want to play the new Call of Duty instead?"

Ned studied him for a few long seconds with a frown but didn't question the change of heart. "Um sure."

Peter fidgeted and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse anyway. "I haven't been able to go out as Spiderman lately so I just have too much pent up energy to sit still and watch something right now. I need to do something."

"Got it." Ned smiled. His friend knew he sometimes had a hard time dealing with the excess energy he'd gained after the spider bite, especially when he couldn't use Spiderman as an outlet to burn it off.

The game served as a good distraction for the rest of the afternoon until Steve interrupted when he came up to check on him.

"Hey Peter. Ned." Steve smiled as he walked over to join them by the couch. "Do you want to come join us for dinner? I made spaghetti."

"And garlic bread?" Ned asked.

"Ned." Peter chastised his friend's rude behavior.

"Of course there's garlic bread. How can you have spaghetti without garlic bread?" Steve joked.

"I'm in!" Ned said eagerly, standing to follow Steve downstairs.

"Peter?" Steve asked when he didn't get up right away.

"Um yeah sounds great Steve. Thanks." Peter got up to follow them, already dreading how embarrassing Ned was probably going to be.

Actually, dinner went surprisingly well. Ned kept it together better than usual. He acted like an actual human instead of a crazy fanboy. Maybe the novelty of the Avengers was finally wearing off for him.

Peter enjoyed himself too. He realized he'd kind of missed the team. He hadn't spent much time with them recently. When he'd been avoiding Tony, he'd been inadvertently avoiding everyone else as well. Ned had to leave right after dinner but instead of going back upstairs to his room, Peter hung back.

"Hey pipsqueak you want to join in our Mario Kart tournament?" Clint asked when he noticed Peter lingering at the table after all the dishes had been cleared off.

"Yeah." Peter smiled.

"But I thought we were going to do the drinking game version." Sam complained.

"We are." Clint answered.

"No one underage is drinking." Steve said sternly.

"We'll give him juice or something." Clint said.

"You don't think maybe we should be modeling good behavior for the impressionable minor?" Rhodey asked.

"No man." Sam disagreed before turning to him. "Peter, drinking is bad. No drinking until you're twenty-one. Got it?"

"This is a do as I say not as I do kind of thing huh?" Peter joked.

"Exactly." Clint said. "I'm sure you're very familiar with the concept, having Tony as your dad and all."

Peter laughed.

"Well I'm not taking the heat for it if Tony finds out." Rhodey said.

"He's not going to find out." Scott argued. "Right kid?"

"My lips are sealed." He mimed a zipping motion across his mouth.

"See? We're all good." Sam shrugged as he settled on the couch. "Now, we're doing teams right?"

"I call dibs on the kid." Clint said quickly as he clasped a hand on his shoulder and guided him to the couch so he was sandwiched between him and Steve.

"I'm with Cap." Sam called next.

"So I'm stuck with tic tac?" Rhodey fake complained.

Scott flipped him off in response.

"Nat! Bruce! You guys in or not?" Clint called across the room where the two of them were finishing up with the dishes.

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Sure why not." Natasha answered for them.

While they waited for the two of them to finish cleaning up, Sam distributed bottles of beer.

Peter turned to Clint. "So do you know the reason Tony had to go to DC again? Is it because of that Ross guy?"

Clint raised his eyebrows in surprise before asking, "What did Tony tell you?"

"A whole lot of nothing." Peter complained. "But you can tell me, can't you?"

"Sorry kid. That's up to your dad." Clint didn't look all that sorry.

"Oh come on. Please." Peter pleaded. "I won't tell him you told me."

"Nope. I'm not going to crack kid. Practice your interrogation skills on someone else." Clint smirked and took a sip of his beer.

Peter turned his most pitiful puppy eyes on Steve. He knew the other man had overheard their conversation. "Steve. Cap. My favorite Avenger. Will you tell me? Please?"

"I'm telling Tony you called Cap your favorite Avenger." Clint groused.

"He already knows. It drives him nuts." Peter shrugged and tried not to laugh as Steve's cheeks pinked slightly.

Clint cackled.

"So what do you say Steve? Can you tell me? Please please please?" Peter leaned into Steve's shoulder and clasped his hands together as he begged. "I won't tell Tony. I promise. I just want to know what's going on. Don't I deserve to know? Come on. I worry about you guys."

"Wow he's really laying it on thick." Sam commented from Steve's other side.

"Don't worry about it son." Steve ruffled his hair. "We have it handled."

Peter scrunched up his face in displeasure. "I take it back. You're not my favorite Avenger anymore."

Steve snorted.

"Oh yeah? Who is?" Clint prodded jokingly.

"Hmm." Peter pretended to be deep in thought.

"What are we talking about?" Bruce asked as he and Natasha walked over and sat down on the opposite couch

"Who Peter's favorite Avenger is." Clint answered.

"Isn't it Ironman?" Bruce asked.

"Apparently it was Cap but now he's out." Sam laughed.

"Seriously?" Bruce asked and Nat raised an eyebrow.

"If anyone wants to tell me what's going on and why Tony's in DC, you'll be my favorite Avenger." Peter tried bribery.

"Nope."

"Sorry kid."

"Ask your dad."

"Oh come on!" Peter whined.

"No one's telling kid. Now, who's your favorite Avenger? Is it me? It's me, isn't it?" Clint jested.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Let's just play the game."

"No no no. Not until you pick." Sam said.

"Argh. Fine." Peter glanced around the room, considering each of them for several long seconds.

"I pick…" He smiled widely. "Thor."

"Oh man."

"You would."

"He's not even here!"

"I'm telling Tony."

Peter laughed.

"That's crap. You haven't even met Thor." Clint complained. "He can't be your favorite."

Peter just shrugged.

"I have a feeling this favorite thing is going to be a very fluid distinction." Nat remarked dryly.

Peter beamed at her. "You know me so well."

"Ooo should we make a chart? Peter's Avenger flavor of the week." Scott suggested then paused and frowned. "I heard that as it was coming out and it sounded wrong."

Clint chucked a throw pillow at Scott.

"We're not making a chart tic tac." Sam rebuked.

"I was kidding. It was a joke." Scott rolled his eyes. "Can we get on with the game now?"

"Yeah I'm ready to kick spider boy's ass." Sam joked as Rhodey got up to turn on the game console.

"Hey it's Spider man." Clint defended him. "And our team's going to wipe the floor with you."

"I changed my mind. Clint's my favorite now." Peter smirked as Rhodey handed him a controller.

"Yes! I knew it!" Clint cheered, raising his fist in the air in a mock victory pose.

This time Natasha threw a pillow and it nailed Clint right in the face.

Peter laughed at the shenanigans. He'd really missed this. He was glad he'd decided to stay and hang out with the Avengers tonight. He knew he'd still have time later to try to sneak out as Spiderman and test Ned's new hack. For now, it could wait. He had his priorities straight. First, he had to help Clint school the rest of the Avengers at Mario Kart.

Peter struggled to bottle up his excitement as he bounded from the elevator into the penthouse. He and Clint had won the Mario Kart tournament, and now he was going to find out if Ned's hack would finally give him the freedom he craved.

He stepped into his room, beaming, before he spoke the code words he and Ned had come up with. "FRIDAY, initiate arachnid dark protocol."

There was a slight anxiety inducing pause before FRIDAY replied, "Protocol engaged."

"Yes!" Peter celebrated. Awesome. Perfect. It had worked! He almost couldn't believe it had actually worked. Ha! So much for being grounded from Spiderman for another week and a half. He rushed to get his suit on and stepped out onto his balcony. He'd planned ahead for this. Ned could only set up the hack for his room, so Peter couldn't so much as step out into the hallway or he'd be busted, which was why he'd spent the last few days in the lab with Bruce and Tony working on new web combinations. One was set up to act almost like a grappling line and the other had bungee capabilities. He hadn't had a chance to test either yet, but everything in the lab had looked promising, and there was no time like the present to find out. Tony would probably kill him if he knew what he was doing.

"Karen, engage bungee web."

"Peter, may I remind you that this web combination has not yet been tested?" Karen chastised.

"That's what we're doing right now." Peter said.

"It would be prudent to have back up safety precautions in place in case the test fails." Karen recommended.

"That's what the parachute's for."

"You would not be able to successfully engage the parachute at such a close proximity to the ground."

"Ok fine. For the first trial set up a short enough drop so if the web snaps the parachute can safely engage." Peter sighed.

"That is a very good idea Peter. The requested bungee webshooter parameters are now set."

"Ok. Here goes nothing." Peter webbed the balcony railing and jumped.

The feeling of free fall always exhilarated him but this time with the added element of uncertainty and danger, fear tinged excitement thrummed through him. It seemed like only seconds had passed before the web caught him abruptly. The web held without snapping but it still jerked his wristed uncomfortably, just short of painful. The web bounced him up slightly before setting back down at the end. Good. He'd been worried he'd given the chemical composition too much give and he'd end up bouncing up and down like an actual bungee jumper. This one had just enough give and stretch to slow him down without sending him flying back up in the air. Test success.

"Congratulations on a successful test of your bungee web Peter."

"Thanks Karen. What do you say we try the next one?"

"That would be advisable."

"Karen engage grappling web."

"Grappling web engaged."

Peter craned his head back and aimed at the railing of his balcony several hundred feet above him. He extended his wrist back and watched as the web shot off with a characteristic fwip before sticking to the exact spot he'd intended. As soon as it was anchored, Peter disengaged the other web and used that hand to tap the spot on the back of his wrist that would start reeling him in.

It worked just like he'd planned. When he arrived back on his balcony, he disengaged the web, stood on the railing and cheered. "Woohoo!"

He'd done it. Sure, Bruce had helped and so had Tony a little, but most of the web composition design and necessary alterations to his webshooters had been his idea.

"Congratulations Peter. Both new web combinations have undergone successful trials."

"Thanks Karen. I noticed." Peter grinned. "Now that we know I won't be plummeting to my death, can you re-engage the bungee web for the correct distance to make it to the ground.

"Yes Peter. Web engaged."

Peter webbed the balcony railing again and leapt back into the air, enjoying the rapid descent even more the second time around. The web worked perfectly again. Thankfully. Or he would've ended up as a splat on the pavement that not even his healing powers would've had a chance of fixing. Karen had been right to make him test it at a safer distance. Good ole Karen.

He slowed to a complete stop about ten feet above the sidewalk. He disengaged the web and landed lightly on his feet and then took off at a run, webbing a nearby building and starting his building to building journey into Queens. No outraged phone call from Tony interrupted his swinging. Everything had gone off without a hitch, and going out as Spiderman served as an instant reprieve from the constant nagging guilt that had plagued him.

He knew he should probably feel bad about deceiving Tony, but the only emotion he felt right now was unbridled joy. He took a deep breath of the dirty smog laden New York City air. It was the sweetest air he'd ever smelled. He was free.

A/N: I know there still wasn't any Tony and Peter stuff in this chapter but at least there was Peter and Avengers bonding? Let me know what you think! I appreciate any and all feedback.