A/N: This is meant to be taking place during December 2017; therefore, Christmas was a Monday. Peter and May arrived upstate on a Tuesday. I'm going to be referring to the days of the week more in this chapter. You'll find that an unwelcome face appears at the end of the week. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Christmas Break - Part 2

Peter was relieved that he was able to make Tony smile with his gift. Tony's presence in his life was a gift in and of itself to Peter, so he was happy to be able to give him something to show his appreciation.

The next couple of days went by in a blur, like most days that are a part of a vacation. Peter was either fiddling around in the lab, or training in the lower level. Tony spent time training with him on Wednesday, but he and Pepper left for the day on Thursday. Vision was more than happy to train with Peter while Tony was away. Working with Vision, however, was a little frustrating for Peter. With the android's ability to faze, Peter couldn't really hit him with his webbing, it would shoot through him. If nothing else, training with Vision taught Peter to utilize some of his other abilities and strengths and rely less on his webs.

By Thursday night, Peter could hardly contain his excitement since his friends would be visiting the next day. They had told MJ and Ned's parents that Peter's internship with Tony Stark helped him to gain special guest passes to the Avenger Compound for his friends. To make things easier for Happy, MJ's parents were dropping her off at Ned's house. Happy would be picking them up there and bringing them to the compound to meet Peter.

Peter thought about going along with Happy to pick them up, but both May and Tony thought that he should stay back to make the preparations for their visit.

Ned and MJ arrived at the compound a little after 10:30 Friday morning. Peter rushed out front to greet them as Happy pulled in. He saw the look of joy on their faces before they even got out of the car. (Although, Michelle was clearly trying to look unfazed by it all).

"Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!" Ned exclaimed as he got out of the car. "Peter! This is… this is…" he stared at the building and Peter thought he might have seen tears of joy in his friend's eyes. "THIS IS MOST DEFINITELY THE COOLEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO ME!"

"Dude…" MJ stared at Ned, "Chill out, we haven't even gone inside yet." She looked around at the security. "If you don't cool it, the hired henchmen will send you home."

Peter laughed, "Hey! Henchmen work for the bad guys. We're the good guys here."

MJ squinted her eyes at Peter and looked around, "Mmm Hmm… Time will tell," she teased.

"Come on inside, guys," Peter motioned for his friends to follow him into the massive building.

"Uhh… you're welcome!" Happy called after the teenagers. They paid him no attention, so he shook his head and sighed, "Ungrateful punks. Maybe they would just like to walk home." Happy slid back in the car and went to park at as the teenagers made their way inside.

Ned could barely contain himself. Everyone looked so important and he wished he could talk to people about their job and which Avengers they knew.

Peter didn't spend much time on the first floor. He pointed in a couple of directions and explained what the various rooms were for before ushering them towards the elevator.

"I want to show you the third floor. Aunt May is up there preparing for lunch." At seeing his friends horrified expressions, he added, "she's not making it. She's just making sure that the food is ordered and we have everything that we need." Ned and MJ visibly relaxed. "I can't wait to show you my room. It's like I have my own apartment. I thought we could hang out in there until it is time for…"

He didn't get to finish that sentence because Iron Man himself stepped off the elevator before they got to it.

"Hey, Peter! There you are. I heard your guests arrived, so I thought I should say hello before you kids got too busy." Tony gave a confident smile to his friends.

"Uh, yeah…" Peter said, "Mr. Stark, this is Ned…"

"Hello, Ned," Tony greeted, stepping forward to shake Ned's hand.

Ned's eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open. "You're shaking my hand. You're actually shaking my hand. This is… is… it's so crazy!" Ned looked at MJ and pointed at Tony. "Iron Man just said hello to me! He knows my name!" He turned back to Tony, embarrassed, "I mean…ahem," Ned lowered his voice as it had gone up an octave in excitement, "It's an honor Mr. Iron… Man… um… Iron Man, sir."

"Take it easy… breathe kid… don't hurt yourself," Tony joked.

Peter chuckled at Ned's excitement before looking over to MJ. "…and this is Michelle" Peter introduced. He noticed that she looked amused and her eyes sparked with something that Peter realized to be excitement. "Huh… I didn't know she could get excited," he thought.

She took Tony's hand and spoke gracefully, "You can call me MJ. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark." And it wouldn't be MJ if she didn't add, "I'm the one who keeps these two losers in line."

Tony liked her. Peter could tell. "I'm glad to hear there is someone to knock some sense into the kid when I'm not around," Tony said, referring to Peter.

"I have to say," Tony added, "I'm glad you two could make it. I'm pleased that Pete felt comfortable sharing his secret with you, and I appreciate how you both have his back." Tony's voice held a genuine gratitude that left Peter feeling truly proud of his friends.

Leave it to Ned to accidently ruin the moment, "I'm happy to be on Peter's back…" his eyes went wide and he stuttered, "No! I mean… I'm on top…"

Tony's eyebrows shot up and he looked amused.

"…On top of it… things… I mean… If there's a problem, I'm on top of it. I know how to back him up."

"Wow… just, wow. Very smooth, Ned," MJ teased.

Tony looked at Peter, "This is the kid who helped you hack into the suit? Huh… ok" Tony shrugged. "Well, I better let you all get on your way. I know you're only here until 6:00, and I don't want to take all your time. It really was nice meeting you both. If you'll excuse me, Colonel Rhodes is flying in for a meeting shortly and I need to be going."

They all waved their goodbyes, and Peter led his friends onto the elevator. The doors closed, and Ned leaned forward and smacked his head on the wall, "Ugh… that was bad… so bad!"

MJ laughed, "Actually, I thought you did pretty well. I honestly thought that could've gone worse."

Ned glared at her before Peter said, "Don't worry. He likes you guys. I don't think you could say anything to change that. He may like you even more now, actually."

Ned doubted that. He said, "Colonel Rhodes… is that War Machine?"

"Yep." Peter said. "I didn't know he was coming by. I haven't seen him since… well… Germany. I don't know if I'll get a chance to catch him later or not, but it would be nice to see him again."

The elevator opened to their floor, and Peter changed the subject to talk about the space in front of them. May greeted both of his friends with warm hugs. Vision was nowhere to be seen, so Peter assumed he must have gone downstairs to be with Tony and Rhodes. Ned and MJ were amazed by the living quarters on the third floor. It was like seeing the inside of a luxury apartment building.

"Can we see where all the Avengers would live… like their room?" Ned asked.

Peter frowned. "No… I mean, I've never been inside any room other than mine or the one May uses. I was up to Tony's private living space once, but only saw the entertaining space," Peter clarified.

Ned looked a little disappointed but nodded his head in understanding. Peter didn't miss how MJ tried to hide her surprise when Peter talked about visiting Tony's private floor. The three friends made their way to Peter's room where they stayed until it was time for lunch. They were enjoying the Xbox gaming and entertainment system.

When it was time to eat, Peter's friends were blown away. There was a whole taco bar set up with anything they could possibly want. They ate the lunch with May, and Peter filled them in on what they could do next. Peter was somewhat restricted as far as areas they could see, but Tony told him that they could see his space on the third floor, the lab, and the training area (but no other area in the lower level). They decided that they would spend time in the lab after lunch before Peter would let them come into the training room with him.

They finished lunch and made their way to the lab where Peter showed off the upgrades to his web shooters. He even let them tinker with it a little. He also showed them the formula for the web fluid, and his friends helped him make a batch. After a couple hours in the lab, Peter asked, "Want to test this fluid out in the training room? I have some of my older web shooters. I'll set up some targets, and you guys can use those to take some shots."

His friends nodded with excitement and they made their way downstairs. The lower level was massive. The space below ground level was larger than what anyone would expect from above. The training area was only a portion of the space. On the side opposite of the training area was a kind of command center that was tucked away for members of the Avengers. From there, the team could easily make their way to either the garage or hangar in order to access appropriate transportation for missions. Peter knew Tony was probably meeting with Rhodes in the command center, so he ushered his friends to the training area quickly so as not to disturb or interrupt anything.

"Woah…this is amazing!" Ned commented as he looked around.

"They actually let you in here?" MJ asked.

Peter smiled. "This is where I will learn to be an Avenger, so yeah… I can use this whenever I want."

Peter grabbed some paper targets and set them up on all around the room. He even climbed some walls and put them up higher. He didn't bother putting on his suit, but he did have a newer set of web shooters to try out. His friends had some of the older models. He showed them both the basics of how to shoot the web out, although Ned had already figured it out. After all, it was Ned who helped him at Homecoming.

"So, you guys can shoot the webs, but you need to stay on the ground. It would be too dangerous for you to try to swing up high like I do." Peter said. "You might be able to swing on them a little from the ground, like you would use a rope swing or something." He gave a small laugh, "Just be careful. It might be hard to explain if I send you home with injuries."

MJ shot off a web and hit one of the targets. She smiled proudly, "I think we can handle it."

With that, the friends were firing webs all over the place hitting one target after another. MJ and Ned ran around the floor trying to hit all the different targets. Peter climbed up and around the walls, shooting at the targets with them. He couldn't resist swinging around and showing off a little for them as well. After some time, Peter felt something stick to his shoulder as he was up high, hanging off a wall. He looked down to see that MJ had hit him with a web.

She had a look of triumph and said, "I thought I would try a moving target." She tugged on the webbing and Peter let her pull him back down to the floor. He looked up to see his friends share a look. Peter removed the webbing and once again noticed how they were looking at each other—the look was full of mischief.

"Hey now…" Peter put his hands in the air and backed up. "You guys wouldn't dare!"

"You better run, Spider-Man!" Ned teased.

With that, Peter took off as his friends both tried to capture him with their webs. It was all in good fun, and Peter was having a blast. He started out slow but picked up some speed in order to offer his friends more of a challenge. With his enhanced senses, he dodged most of their attempts. He heard a few comments about how he wasn't being fair but didn't take it seriously since he could hear them laughing.

"Aw, man! I'm empty," he heard Ned say.

Peter stopped and dropped back to the ground. They all looked up to see a mess of webs around the training room. Peter explained that they would dissolve later.

"Where's the bathroom?" Ned asked suddenly, a light blush on his face.

Peter walked his friend over to the side and pointed to a hallway, "It will be on the right," Peter told him.

He watched his friend go around the corner before looking down and examining the web shooters on his wrists and started to take them off.

Suddenly, webbing was stuck to his waist and he realized that MJ hadn't yet run out. He let out a little yelp of surprise as she yanked him in her direction.

"Woah, yeah… you got me," he smiled to her. "Nice shot!"

She pulled him so that he was next to her and smiled. Peter couldn't help but notice just how beautiful she looked when she genuinely smiled.

"This was really fun," she said while tucking some hair behind her ear. "Thanks for today."

He looked up and met her eyes. He went to say something, but he was lost for words. MJ had a look in her eyes that was different than any look he had seen before. Belatedly, he noticed that she still held on to the webbing and was pulling him closer, little by little. He let her pull until their faces were just inches apart.

"MJ…" he breathed softly. So many thoughts were running through his head. "I… umm… we… I…"

"…shut up, Parker," she said, and she moved forward to silence him with her lips.

They didn't quite get the chance. "Man, the bathrooms here are so nice. It's more like a spa or something!" Ned proclaimed as he came back into the room.

Peter had quickly jumped back, and Ned never noticed what had nearly taken place. Peter rubbed the back of his neck and looked over at MJ. To her credit, she recovered fully and was distracting herself by removing the borrowed web shooters.

"So, what's next?" Ned asked.

Peter looked at the clock on the wall. "It's almost 5:00 o'clock already. We better head upstairs and get you guys something to eat before Happy takes you home."

He collected the web shooters from his friends and went over to a locker in the hallway to set them inside. Little did he know that there was someone who had seen exactly what took place between him and Michelle. May had snuck down to the viewing window to watch the friends play together. She quickly started to go back upstairs since she knew they were getting ready to make their way up as well. "I knew she was trying to get his attention," May thought, "Now I think Peter finally knows it as well."

On the way upstairs, MJ and Peter stole some awkward glances at one another. Ned was still so excited about everything that he didn't notice. MJ wasn't one to make a fuss, however, and it wasn't long before it was as if nothing happened.

For dinner, they enjoyed some delicious homemade pizza and ice cream as they laughed and talked about their day. The friends soaked up every minute, and Peter noticed that it was actually after 6:00 by the time he led his friends back to the car where Happy was waiting to take them home.

Ned lifted Peter into a friendly and tight bear hug. "Dude! This was so amazing! I hope we can do this again sometime!" Peter smiled and lifted his hand for them to do their secret handshake. Ned gave his friend another smile before getting into the car.

Peter walked over to MJ sheepishly and tucked his hands into his pockets. She spoke first, "This was…" she sighed, "…cool."

Peter gave a smile and a nervous laugh. "It was…" he met her eyes and gave her a cheeky grin, "I guess it could have been cooler though."

She looked towards the car and back at Peter. They had too much of an audience now between Ned and Happy. MJ stepped forward and instead pulled him in for a quick hug. "Call me?" she asked. "When you get back to Queens on Monday?" she clarified as she hopped into the car.

"Yeah…" Peter confirmed. "Of course… I… uh… can't wait… Monday." He stuttered.

Happy was eager to get going, and he started to pull away as soon as the teenagers in the back were settled.

Peter made sure they were safely away and turned to go back in. He got to the top of the steps and found May and Tony standing together, looking at some video that Tony was projecting from his phone.

They were busy talking and failed to see just how close Peter was. "What… you think… a little before 5:00, you said?" Tony asked.

"Right… about… there, stop it there!" May was pointing at the screen.

To Peter's horror, Tony had FRIDAY pull up camera footage from the training room. May and Tony were watching the part where MJ had tried to pull Peter in for a kiss.

"WHAT?! How did you… why are you…" he stuttered out, "That's not for you to see! Erase that!"

Both adults jumped slightly at Peter's approach.

"Oh, hey Pete!" Tony said, "May was just telling me this little story about seeing you with your friends earlier… one friend in particular… I just had to see it for myself."

Peter's jaw was hanging open. He looked at May, confused.

"I'm sorry, Peter," she laughed. "I wanted to see what you guys were doing, and it just so happened that I got to see the best part," she teased.

"Man… just one second more…" Tony whined. "She's good… almost had you, kid." Tony smiled and closed the video before looking up at Peter. "I approve. That girl has skills… we need to work on yours, though," he teased.

"Thanks a lot," Peter whined.

He shook his head as he followed the two grown-ups back inside, both of whom were chuckling as they went through the door.


The next day, Peter was in a very good mood. He was still feeling the high of spending the previous day with his friends. He loved that he got the chance to share this part of his life with them.

Peter and Tony had each grabbed freshly squeezed juice from the cafeteria on the main level, and they were making their way to the elevator. Peter was planning to spend the day with Tony since he and Pepper would be leaving the next day, and Tony wasn't sure if they would be back in time to say goodbye to Peter and May before they went back to Queens on Monday.

FRIDAY was suddenly speaking to Tony, a warning in her voice, "Sir, Thaddeus Ross just made his way through the gate. He is quickly approaching and asking to speak with you. Security personnel are instructing him to head towards Conference Room 2."

"Shit!" Tony cursed and looked to Peter. "Maybe you should get out of here. Head to the elevator and…"

"…too late," Peter cut in. "He's already at the door and looking in our direction. I think it will be suspicious if I run off in a hurry."

"You're an intern. Follow my lead," Tony said quickly and quietly to Peter before directing his attention to the man approaching. "Secretary Ross! My oh my, what a surprise it is to see you! You shouldn't have come all this way just for little old me!" he quipped.

Ross looked thoroughly annoyed. "Actually, I did need to come here. Especially since you have a bad habit of putting me on hold! I wanted to catch you now before you run off for the holiday. I hear you met with Colonel Rhodes to discuss a certain topic without me. Something you both know that I should be a part of!" He scolded Tony but left out details upon seeing the young man next to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that I needed your approval to talk to my friends." Tony complained. "And what we talk about is really none of your damn business! Now…if you excuse me, I was just about to head to the lab with my intern."

Ross was now paying full attention to Peter, who was trying to play the part of dumb intern. He looked to the tag that Peter had clipped to his front pocket. "Excuse me, Mr… uh… Parker, is it?" Peter nodded and held out his hand.

"It's an honor, sir." He said. Ross gave his hand a quick, impatient shake. The man was clearly not interested in wasting time on an intern.

However, Ross was a little curious and asked, "You always invite kids to secure facilities like this, Stark?" He examined Peter, "Seems a little young to be here."

"Mr. Parker here is a real genius. Top of his class… no doubt a future at MIT. He makes your old test scores, yes… I have seen your test scores," he said as Ross gave him a look, "he makes you look like… well…" Tony shrugged. "Let's just say I think the kid could probably do your job better."

Ross clenched his jaw tightly shut and looked to Peter, "What is it that Stark makes you do here?"

Peter was nervous, so Tony jumped in, "Nuh uh… you don't get to harass my interns. If you must know, I came across the kid's mad skills when I was a guest judge at a robotics competition at his school," Tony lied easily, "He's helping me perfect the design on Colonel Rhodes' leg braces."

"Mr. Stark has all the best tools and materials here for me to help out," Peter added, proud of just how steady his voice was as he spoke.

Ross nodded, seeming to accept this explanation. "That's all well and good," he shifted impatiently, "but you're going to have to excuse us. Mr. Stark needs to share some important information with me. I understand there is a conference room available for us?" Ross was not going to let Tony get out of this one.

"Kid," Tony turned to Peter, "You can go up to the lab and wait for me there. I'll have FRIDAY let you know when this little meeting is done. It shouldn't take me too long to convince this guy that there's no breaking news for him." Tony glared at Ross, who was glaring right back. "That ok?"

"Uh… Sure, Mr. Stark," Peter confirmed, "I'll go up and get started a while. It was nice to meet you, sir." He said to Ross.

Ross seemed to be looked in a staring contest with Tony and only gave a subtle nod back to Peter.

As Ross and Tony made their way to a conference room, Peter shuffled to the elevator. Once safely in the elevator with the door closed, Peter let out a long, shaky breath. He also noticed that his hands were shaking slightly and closed them into fists. "Oh god…" he thought aloud, "please tell me that worked." Peter's mind worked furiously, "Is Ross asking about Spider-Man? Could they be talking about me?"

He leaned back against the wall of the elevator. He skipped the floor to the labs, and he instead went straight to the third floor. His aunt looked up at him as he stepped off the elevator.

May took in his pale complexion and closed fists. "Peter? Is everything ok? I thought you were going to be spending time with Tony?" she asked with concern.

"He's here, May…" Peter said to her, his voice stiff and anxious.

"Tony? Isn't he supposed to be here?" May asked, clearly confused.

"No!" Peter said a little too loudly. He noticed Vision came out to see what was going on as well. "I'm not talking about Tony, Aunt May…" Peter had brought his voice back under control.

"Then who? Peter what's wrong?" May tried again.

He looked up at his aunt with concern filling his eyes, "Secretary Ross… Secretary Thaddeus Ross is in the building, and he is talking to Mr. Stark right now."

May brought a hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp.

Peter just hoped their worst fear wasn't about to come true.

A/N: Get ready…here we go!