Peter looked down at his phone when it buzzed and froze. The alert that came across was one he hadn't seen in a couple months. MJ.

"Are you ok? I saw the article."

Tony saw the look of abject terror on Peter's face. "What's wrong?"

Peter slid his phone across the lab table. "What do I do?"

Tony fought the grin that wanted to appear on his face. "What do you want to do?"

Peter stared at his phone. "It's MJ."

"Ok. That doesn't answer the question." Tony sat back in his chair and watched his son process the question.

Peter glanced up at his dad, eyes pleading for guidance. "It's MJ."

Tony crossed his arms. "You haven't talked to her in a couple months."

Peter frowned. Not talking to her wasn't by choice. "I know. And she just texted me."

"So text her back."

Yeah. Text her back. Seemed so simple. "It's not that easy. I don't know what she's expecting." Peter looked at his dad.

Tony sighed. "You're never going to know what she or any other female is expecting. Get used to it now. But, you need to figure out what you want. Once you know that it makes the rest of it easier."

Peter shook his head. "That's not helping."

"Ok." Tony decided to try a different tactic. "So Gwen. Was there anything there?"

Peter frowned. He hadn't expect the shift from MJ to Gwen. "We were friends. Are friends. I think."

"Could there have been something more than friendship?" Tony was pretty sure he knew the answer, he just wanted Peter to get there on his own.

Peter shrugged. "Maybe." He paused. "But MJ..."

"But MJ." Tony smiled. "If you want to figure out what MJ is expecting you have to start by talking to her." He slid Peter's phone back across the lab table. "I would start with answering her question."

Peter frowned but picked up his phone. After typing and backspacing and typing again he looked up when he heard Tony sigh. "What?"

"You're overthinking this. I know you're multiple steps out from sending a simple text in your head. Playing out different results. Normally, I'm right there with you, but in this case, you're 18. Just answer the question."

Peter sighed and backspaced everything he had just typed and started again.

"I'm ok. Media circus was ridiculous. Had to do an interview with Dad, Pepper, and Morgan. First team up with Morgan...she did great as backup!" He hit send and felt a little better. Deciding to throw caution to the wind he added, "How was your first semester at Princeton?"

Pepper walked into the living room after putting Morgan down for a nap and looked over at Tony when she saw Peter laying on the sofa with his feet over the back, phone in hand. "What's he doing?"

Tony grinned. "Being a teenager. MJ texted him."

Pepper smiled. "How's it going?"

Tony shrugged. "He's struggling with not overthinking it."

"Did he ask if she wanted to go see Star Wars with him and Ned tonight?"

"Yes. She said no." That simple question and answer had caused an extraordinary amount of panic in Peter. Tony was enjoying being able to help talk his son through this. He thought he was actually doing pretty good so far.

"Good. I would have worried if she had said yes. She's always hated Star Wars."

Tony raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I would have thought her going with them was a good thing."

Pepper shook her head. "One of the things that makes MJ...well MJ, is that she knows who she is and she doesn't compromise. If she were to go see Star Wars with the boys then it means that she's doing something she doesn't want to do just to see Peter. Which sounds great but doesn't sound like MJ."

Tony shook his head. "That makes no sense."

Pepper leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek. "Which is why you're lucky to have me and not the multitude of other options you had...they had no substance. Like me, MJ has substance."

Tony looked up from the tablet he was reading when Peter stepped off the elevator. "How was the movie?"

Peter walked over to the sofa and vaulted over the back to land next to Tony. "I don't know. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. I might need to see it a couple more times."

Tony laughed. "You know, if we had done the press conference over the summer like I wanted, you and Ned could have gone to the premier instead."

Peter shook his head. "I officially do not like press or cameras."

"I hate to tell you kid, press and cameras are now officially part of your life." Tony laughed at the look of disgust on Peter's face. "I was thinking you and I could head to the compound for a couple days. What do you have planned?"

"Ned leaves tomorrow to visit family." Which meant he would have to convince someone else to go see Star Wars with him again. Maybe if they were at the compound he could either pick up Bobby or talk Bucky into going with him.

"How about MJ."

Peter frowned. "She's leaving to visit family too. Won't be back until after I leave to go back to school." Peter audibly sighed. "I wish she had gone to the movies with us."

"According to Pepper its a good thing that she didn't." Tony looked over at Peter. "Yeah, I don't understand it either. But when it comes to stuff like this, she know more than we do."

Tony pulled through the gate of the compound and made his way to the side entrance. Natasha, Steve, Bucky, and Sam walked outside as he pulled the car to a stop. The second Peter get out of the car, Natasha wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "We missed our youngest Avenger."

Peter grinned and hugged her back. "I missed you too."

Natasha let go of Peter and looked at Tony. "We thought we'd let you two get settled and then hit the training room." She glanced over at Peter. "We want to make sure you're not out of shape."

Peter grabbed his bag. "I'm not out of shape. I even went out as Spider-Man last night and didn't get hurt."

Steve looked at Tony and Peter. "How does that work? Don't people wonder why there are two of you?"

Peter shook his head. "I worked it out with Miles. He had family in town anyway. There's a lot to be said for the ability to cover for each other if anyone gets too close to knowing the truth."

"Good plan." Steve nodded his approval. He glanced over at Tony. "Tony, there's something you should know. We're hearing some reports that Ross and Ellis have had a falling out and that Ross is out as Secretary of State in January."

Peter looked from Steve to Tony and back to Steve. "You two don't look thrilled about that. I would have thought with as much as everyone dislikes Ross, you would be happy to see him out of power."

Natasha interjected. "In the position of Secretary of State we could keep tabs on him. On his own we won't be able to. And, he has a lot of contacts that he's made over the years."

Tony threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and started toward the elevator. Ross out as Secretary of State was big. He glanced behind him and saw Peter talking to Bucky and Sam, probably trying to convince them to go see Star Wars with him. He turned his attention to Natasha. "How sure is the intel?"

"Rhodey is in DC trying to confirm." She glanced back at Peter, verifying he was still distracted by Bucky and Sam. "I don't like it. We're working contacts trying to identify his network. Unrestrained by the office he could cause problems."

Tony walked into the elevator as it opened, FRIDAY holding it for Peter. "We'll meet you in the training room in 30 minutes." He thought through everything Natasha had said as Peter stood next to him on the ride up to their floor.

"You're worried."

Tony knew it was a statement and not a question. "Natasha has a handle on it. Let's just make sure your training isn't slipping."