Finals came and went. The boys packed up and returned to New York for the summer. Peter was currently laying on the floor of the living room, letting Morgan use his back as her play area. According to her, he was a mountain that was going to wake up and knock everything off. Tony walked into the living room coffee cup in hand. "How was last night?"

Peter rotated his head slightly so he wouldn't disturb whatever Morgan was building. "Amazing! You have no idea how much I missed it. Miles has finals all week so there won't be two of us, we'll work something out for the rest of the summer."

Tony smiled at Peter's enthusiasm. "When does MJ get back?"

"This afternoon." He glanced over at his dad. "Is anyone going to tell me how many times someone tried to grab her?" It had been an ongoing argument. Peter had suspected there had been an incident a couple weeks ago but MJ wouldn't tell him anything. She had video called him to prove that she was ok but Peter could tell something had happened.

"Just the one time. Nakia made sure that they would think twice about coming after her again." Tony sat back and watched Peter process what he had just said. It had been a long discussion that had ended up involving not only himself and MJ but also Pepper, Steve, Natasha, T'Challa, and Nakia. It had happened in the middle of everything with Harry. Tony suspected they were hoping to lure Peter and maybe even Wyatt away from Boston so they could contain Harry themselves.

Peter growled and looked back at the TV which was currently showing Morgan's favorite cartoon. "You know you should have told me, right?"

"Not when you're so stressed you're doing 200 ft free falls from skyscrapers." Tony took a sip of his coffee and looked at the back of Peter's head. He smiled when Peter growled again. "When you get done pouting and after MJ gets settled, invite her over for dinner."

Peter twisted his head around again and gave his dad a look of suspicion. "What are you planning?"

"Dinner. Think tomorrow will work?"

Peter scowled at his dad knowing full well it was more than dinner. "Hand me my phone."

Tony set his coffee on the end table and picked up Peter's phone, handing it to him. "Let's try for a late dinner...maybe 7pm. Here. You can take her home then go out as Spider-Man."

Peter twisted back around and started typing. "Dad wants to know if you can come over for dinner tomorrow. 7pm. Something is up. Oh...also...you two should have told me...". He hit send knowing he was probably picking a fight. He glanced back down when a message pinged a few seconds later.

"Ok for dinner. You had other things to worry about. I was fine."

Peter grumbled at the phone and turned back to his dad. "7 is fine." He felt a tap on his back and he turned to look at Morgan.

"M'tn wake!"

Peter smiled and acted like he was yawning and arched his back, letting Morgan's city tumble to the ground. The giggles coming from Morgan made him laugh. He rolled over on top of the toys and started tickling her.

Pepper walked into the room, slipping on a suit jacket. "Oh good, Peter's taken over the mountain duties." She looked down at Tony. "Did he ask MJ about dinner?"

Tony nodded. "7 is good."

Peter looked up at Pepper. If Pepper was involved maybe it was SI related. But then why would they want MJ there. Maybe it was parent related...but that didn't make any sense either. Except for the break last year, MJ and Peter had been in a relationship for years and there had never been any kind of 'talk' involving both of them.

"Wheels...turning...stop over analyzing." Tony nudged him with his foot. "What are you doing today?"

Peter shrugged. "I thought I'd see if Ned wanted to do something. If he's busy I may see if Johnny and Wyatt are free. Or I may just go out as Spider-Man."

Tony nodded. The only reason he was ok with Peter going off by himself in the city was because there wasn't anywhere that he couldn't get to in less than 2 minutes and Pete could hold his own for more than that long. They had increased the watch's energy tolerance and the nanotechnology automatically deployed the suit if a change was detected.

Peter grabbed his phone again and typed out a quick text to Ned. "Are you free today? I thought maybe we could hang out. Maybe hit Delmar's for lunch?" Peter hadn't seen Ned since the incident in California. By the time Ned had made it back to New York, Peter had been in middle of the incident with Harry and trying to make it through finals. It didn't take long for a return text.

"Can you come by the apartment?"

Peter smiled and typed his response. "Be there in about an hour." He rolled over and looked up at his dad. Morgan had crawled up on the couch and snuggled next to him. "I'm getting dressed then heading over to Ned's. I'll let you know if I go out as Spider-Man."

xxxxxxxxxx


Peter took the steps at Ned's apartment building two at a time. It almost felt like old times. Knocking on the door he could hear Mrs. Leeds' footsteps on the other side. He smiled when she pulled open the door. "Hey Mrs. Leeds!"

"Hi Peter. Ned is in his room." She closed the door behind Peter.

Peter made his way through the familiar apartment. Ned's door was half open so he pushed it all the open and walked in. "Hey Ned!"

Ned lunged to his feet and bear hugged him. "Hey! How were finals?"

Peter shrugged. "They were finals. I'm glad to have a break for a couple months." Peter slid into Ned's desk chair as Ned sat back down on his bed. "How are you doing?" Peter scrutinized Ned. He looked like he had lost a little weight but not in a good way.

"I'm ok after what happened in California." He twisted his head around to show Peter the back of his neck. "Didn't even leave a scar." Turning back around he looked at Peter and lowered his voice. "Mom on the other hand is completely over reacting. I think I've only left the house by myself twice since coming home. You have got to break me out."

Peter chuckled. "It can't be that bad."

Ned shook his head. "It's worse. She's afraid something will happen so she won't let me out of her sight. I'm about to resort to sneaking out but I suspect she might have put an alarm on my window."

Peter shook his head and tapped his watch. "Karen, scan Ned's room for any kind of sensors or alarms on the doors and windows." A moment later 'No devices found' appeared on the face of his watch. He flipped it around to show Ned. "You're clear."

Ned laughed. "I don't know...she probably has other ways..."

"Let's go down to Delmar's. I haven't had a smushed sandwich in ages." Peter stood up and waited for Ned to join him.

"You're going to have to convince mom." Ned looked up at Peter and sighed as he stood up.

Peter led him out of his room. "Mrs. Leeds, were going to run down to Delmar's. Can we pick anything up for you?"

Mrs. Leeds started to object but between Ned's pleading face and Peter's innocent one, she couldn't say no. "You'll come right home?"

A smile spread across Ned's face. "Yes. Delmar's and back."

Mrs. Leeds looked over at Peter. "Is your father in the city today?"

Peter thought it was an odd question until he realized that she was asking about Iron Man. "He's at the tower." He held up his watch. "Panic button still works." After the incident at the 2nd homecoming dance it had become common knowledge among his friends that Peter had a panic button on his watch and that was how Tony had gotten there as quickly as he had. Peter smiled at Mrs. Leeds again. "We'll be fine."

Mrs. Leeds grimaced. "I suppose." She glanced over at Ned. "Delmar's and then home."

Ned was almost bouncing. "Of course, love you mom." He darted out of the apartment with Peter trailing behind him. Once the door closed he glanced back at Peter. "We are taking the long way."

xxxxxxxxxx

MJ glanced down at her watch. "Roof?" She smiled and glanced around her room that was in complete disarray. It was almost 11pm and she felt like she had been unpacking most of the day. She knew both of her parents were asleep but she still didn't want to risk going out the front door so she pulled her window open and climbed up the fire escape. Climbing onto the roof she saw Peter crouched by the edge looking at the city below. "Hey!"

Peter rose and turned around, a smile immediately appearing across his face. "Hey!" Meeting halfway, he felt MJs arms wrap around his neck. He had missed this. He had missed her. When they had gotten back together they had done it with the knowledge that they were in different cities. Now, the anticipation of being able to spend the summer together was almost overwhelming. Kissing her, he murmured "I've missed you."

MJ pulled back after a few minutes and looked at Peter. "So my parents dropped a bombshell on me when I got home. They're moving. Out of New York. The lease runs out of on the apartment at the end of July so they're going to transition over the next two months."

Peter frowned, "You can't move. It makes no sense for you to move for a month just to head back to Princeton."

MJ sighed. "I know. I'm not sure where I'm finding an apartment for a month or how I'm paying for it."

"Move in with me."

MJ almost laughed, "Tony and Pepper might have something to say about your girlfriend living with you."

"That's not what I mean. The tower has a gazillion rooms. Dad built out the entire floor below ours when he moved the Avengers there when he was remodeling the compound. Plus Pepper had guest suites added on the lower floors for SI VIP guests." It was the perfect solution in Peter's head. Plus MJ would be even closer then.

MJ studied Peter. She could see him already planning out moving her into the tower. "Maybe. We can ask them tomorrow."

Peter was already cycling through which area would be best and whether it made sense for her to even move stuff from her parents apartment. Most of the rooms were already furnished. "I'll talk to dad in the morning." He looked back over at her. "Ok, problem solved. Anything else need to be fixed?"

MJ laughed and pulled him over to one of the walls and sat down, pulling him down next to her. "You know that's one of the things I love about you. I think a lot of guys would have been more interested in the fact that they could potentially shack up with their girlfriend for a couple months. You're just solving the problem."

Peter frowned, "MJ, I don't see us as a short term thing that would ever involve 'shacking up'..."

MJ could see Peter's anxiety over her comment rise exponentially, "Good, neither do I. When I asked to get into the boxes I intended to stay in the boxes, you know that, right? I'm not going anywhere."

Relief spread through Peter although it was quickly replaced by even more anxiety. If he wasn't going anywhere and she wasn't going anywhere it meant they'd be together...forever...which meant married? Maybe not, Tony and Pepper didn't get married for a really long time. He realized he didn't know her stance on that. He also didn't even know if she wanted kids, or not. He didn't know if he wanted kids...he wasn't even sure if he could have kids. Gamma radiation tended to cause problems and that was one he wasn't sure if the Spider fixed or not. The entire 'spider-babies' conversation with Pepper came roaring back into his head. It came to a crashing halt when MJ leaned over and kissed him.

"How many steps out did you get? Marriage? Kids?" MJ smirked at him.

Peter took a deep breath and nodded. He loved that MJ knew where his brain headed and was always able to center him. "We haven't talked about any of that. Do you even want to get married? How about kids?"

MJ spun around to face him with her legs crossed in front of her. "Married, yes. But probably not until after graduation. Kids...I'm open. I probably don't want to jump into having kids but maybe eventually."

Peter looked at her. "What if I can't. Gamma radiation tends to mess with...well, a lot of stuff."

"Then we adopt if we want kids. Or, we don't have kids. It's not a make or break thing for me." She grabbed his hands and held them. "Did we answer all of the big questions?"

Peter smiled. "MJ...I love you."

MJ smirked in response. "I love you too."