Peter leaned back on the sofa, PlayStation controller in hand. Bobby wouldn't be done with his make up final for another hour. Peter had finished both of his that morning. So far, none of his professors had made a big deal over the fact that he was Tony Stark's son. It was a relief. He just hoped it continued. Most of his group was already back in town so they had planned on heading to the Odyssey when Bobby was done. Peter just hoped they let him back in. He wasn't sure how great it was that they had gotten so much press. Hopefully it had been long enough that things had died down a little.

Peter looked at the clock on the wall. He had lost track of time playing online with Ned, Bucky, and Sam. Bobby should have been back almost an hour ago. Turning off the PlayStation he picked up his phone and sent Bobby a text.

"Where are you?"

A few minutes later a picture came through of a building completely engulfed in flames. "The roads are blocked. Although I think they're about to start letting people through. I should be back soon."

Peter looked at the picture. At home, he probably would have been in the middle of things. He had pulled people out of fires more than a couple times. After the first time, they had made his normal suits fireproof. Now, the Iron Spider was definitely fireproof. But, it would be weird if Spider-Man showed up in Boston, so until he could come up with a cover he was stuck more or less on the sidelines. And he hated it.

Curious, he started looking online about the fire. Turned out that it was only the latest in a series of fires. Some just chalked it up to cold weather and issues with space heaters or faulty heating systems. Others were starting to think they were deliberate. He was still reading through articles and had asked Karen to dig in when Bobby walked into the living room.

"Ok, that was a nightmare." Bobby threw himself on the other sofa.

Peter looked up from his tablet. "The final or the fire."

"Both. What are you doing?"

Peter put the tablet down on the sofa. "Reading about the fire...actually it's fires...plural...this was the forth one since mid December that they think may actually be arson."

Bobby frowned. "That's not good. The building today was an apartment building. Luckily most of the people who live there are students and aren't back yet. Do they have any suspects?"

Peter shook his head. "No." He followed it with a sigh. "I wish there was a way that I could be Spider-Man here without blowing my identity."

Bobby furrowed his brows. "So you can swing into a burning building? You know they have fire fighters trained just for that type of situation."

"Yeah, but most fire fighters don't have super strength, enhanced senses, and the ability to heal. If I go in, they don't have to."

Bobby shook his head. "You're an adrenaline junkie. I've seen some of the stuff you do." He looked down at the pictures on the tablet. "But, you have a point. Any idea what to do about it?"

Peter frowned and shook his head. "Not yet." Reaching down he turned off the tablet. "Let's head out. I'm starving."

Peter trailed Bobby into The Odyssey. He wasn't sure what to expect. He had texted Gwen a couple times over the break and she had always still seemed a little mad. He hadn't talked to Wyatt or Johnny at all. Bobby kept telling him that absolutely no one cared that he was Tony Stark's son. He hoped he was right. He saw the table Bobby was headed for and realized it was just Wyatt and Johnny. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or not that Gwen wasn't there yet.

Wyatt grinned up at him. "Sit down Parker. As retribution for not looping us in you're buying tonight."

Peter dropped into a chair. "That I can do." He glanced over at Johnny who didn't seem phased at all.

"Parker, you need to work on your interview skills. Sue said she could tell you had been prepped." Johnny took a sip of his beer. "I, on the other hand, thought you actually did a good job for it being your first major interview."

Peter groaned. "You mean people actually watched that?" He still did not understand why people would be interested in the lives of others. He could somewhat understand if it had been something about the Avengers. Idolizing hero's was one thing. He understood why people wanted to take pictures with Spider-Man and was more than happy to accommodate. The fascination with his home life was something totally different.

"Sue loves stuff like that so I was watching it simply because she had it on. When she and Reed got married the press was everywhere. It sucked at first but you do get used to it." Johnny leaned an elbow on the table. "And, most of the professors are pretty cool about it. I think only one or two have even made comments about my sister or brother-in-law." He shrugged, "So, don't stress about it." Johnny flicked the flame of the little Sterno can on the table that had been lit to keep their pizza warm.

Relief flowed through Peter. He hadn't expected this much understanding and support. He still wasn't comfortable with it though. He grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite.

"You know you could have told us who you were." Gwen sat down across from Peter. The Odyssey had filled up a little and Gwen had filtered in after the boys had demolished two extra large pizzas.

Peter shrugged. "I know but I wanted people to see me and not my dad. Especially here. I mean, he's on a first name basis with most of the professors and has dinner with the dean every couple months."

Gwen shook her head. "I get the general public but not your friends."

Peter studied Gwen. Keeping secrets was something he had done for so long now he wasn't sure he knew how not to keep things in their separate compartments even though time and time again his friends were nothing but supportive. Keeping his relationship with Tony secret had been a natural reaction after keeping so many other things secret. "Did you enjoy not being able to leave your apartment? Or being compared to the types of girls my dad used to 'date'?"

Gwen shrugged. "It was mildly inconvenient and I've been called worse. I was more bothered by the idea that you didn't trust me."

Peter looked down at his lemonade. Trust was an incredibly complicated thing. Trusting people for him, even if it was just about who his dad was, meant potentially putting their lives at risk. MJ and Ned finding out about Spider-Man had been inevitable. He just spent too much time with them in high school. Plus, thinking back, he wasn't great at keeping secrets back then. He wasn't sure how the entire school hadn't known. Part of him still felt that letting go of the secret of who his dad was meant that Spider-Man's identity wouldn't be too far behind. And he didn't know how he felt about that.

He had been threatened too many times over the years by the common criminals he fought. Usually they would pop out with 'when I find out who you are, I'll kill you and everyone you care about'. He knew most of them couldn't actually follow through with it, but there were some that could. And that meant limiting the number of people who knew his secrets. He looked up and met Gwen's eyes. "It's not that I don't trust you. I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

Gwen shook her head and stood up. "How is knowing that your dad is Tony Stark going to hurt me?" She left Peter at the table by himself and walked over to a group currently playing pool. Peter sighed and looked around. For the most part it was familiar faces. A few new ones peppered the crowd. Finishing his lemonade he stood up and walked over to the group. Even though he never played it was fun to watch. Gwen was still the best pool player by far and it looked like she was starting to give everyone a run for their money. Leaning against the wall he watched her drop ball after ball. His dad had asked him if there had been anything there. There probably could be...but MJ.

He and MJ were in a better place than they were at the beginning of the summer but they were no where near where they had been. He wasn't sure if they'd ever get back to where they had been, but then again, with each passing day, neither one of them was the same person they were in high school.

"It is too early for you to be that deep inside your head."

Peter looked over at Bobby who had come over and leaned against the wall next to him. "Sorry."

"I think Johnny and Wyatt are heading out in a few minutes. I told Gwen I'd let her beat me in a game before we left. Is that ok?" Bobby looked between Gwen and Peter. He knew about MJ and he had a feeling that Gwen had a thing for Peter. And, he suspected that if MJ weren't in the picture again Peter might have a thing for Gwen too.

"Yeah, that's fine." Peter watched the rest of the current game and then started to watch Gwen and Bobby, until he heard sirens. They were far enough away that he knew no one else around him could hear them. He had told Karen to alert him if there was another fire and felt a gentle buzz on his wrist. Tapping the face of his watch he displayed a map Karen had marked where the position of the current fire. This one looked like an building.

Bobby stood in front of him. Gwen had solidly defeated him. He was beginning to think that Peter should play her just to give her a little bit of a challenge. He stopped short of mentioning it when he saw the look on Peter's face. "What?"

"Are you ready to head out?" Peter glanced up, brain already cycling through options.

"Yeah, what's wrong." Bobby glanced towards the door as the sirens finally came within reach of normal hearing.

"That's what's wrong. We'll have to drive that way to get home anyway." Peter pulled his keys out of his pocket. He glanced over at Gwen who had just started another game of pool. "Gwen, we're heading out. Maybe see you tomorrow?"

"Whatever Parker." Gwen glanced up at him over the pool cue and made the shot without checking it.

Bobby pulled Peter towards the door. Once outside he shook his head. "You know she likes you, right?"

Peter frowned as he walked towards his car. "What? No, I'm pretty sure I'm her least favorite friend."

"How did you date MJ as long as you did? You are absolutely clueless." Bobby pulled open the passenger door. Deciding that Peter did not need the extra confusion he switched subjects. "Karen find anything about the fire?"

Peter started the car. "Yeah, we have to drive that way to get home anyway so we can do some looking on the way." He pulled out onto the street and headed towards the fire. "If this is the same thing, two fires in one day is not good."

Peter pulled into a parking lot a half a block away from the fire. He wasn't the only one so it didn't look overly suspicious. The fire trucks were blocking the street so the only choice people had were to park and wait or navigate through Cambridge to get to their destination. He could see well enough to see what was going on.

"What are we looking for?" Bobby asked from the passenger seat. Ever since his mutation had been triggered he had the ability to differentiate heat signatures. The heat the fire put out was almost overpowering but not unexpected after witnessing the one from this afternoon.

"I have no idea." Peter scanned the building to see if he could detect anyone that was trapped. He already knew that if he had to, he wouldn't think twice about going in after someone. He could deal with the fall out later. Satisfied that the building was empty he started scanning the crowd.

"Huh."

Peter turned to look at Bobby. "What?"

"Someone in the crowd has a heat signature that's way higher than a normal person." Bobby squinted. He could detect the signature but he couldn't actually see who or what it was.

Peter activated the Iron Spider mask. "Karen, scan thermal signatures."

"The fire is making it hard to differentiate signatures. Sorry Peter."

Peter deactivated the mask. "Can you figure out who it is?"

Bobby shook his head. "No, and it's gone now." He looked over at Peter. "That was weird. It was like someone's entire body was on fire but they weren't."