"Congratulations Decathalon National Champions!" Mr. Harrington said, grinning. He placed the trophy at the center of the table. "I've gotta go put that thing back in like, ten minutes but you know, just for some motivation for today's practice."

The kids around the table clapped, Peter among them, Ned letting out a cheer.

"Now, I know I"m a little ahead of the game here," Mr. Harrington continued, "But we need a new captain for next year, and I've decided I"m appointing MIchelle."

More cheers and applause this time, directed towards MIchelle, who looked like she was trying her hardest not to look surprised. She managed to smooth out her face. "Erm- my friends call me MJ."

"I thought you didn't have any friends." Ned said bluntly. Michelle- MJ- took a deep breath.

"I didn't." she said quietly. Peter wondered if anyone else had even heard, considering he was sitting directly across from her and had his Spider hearing. HIs pocket buzzed, a text notification on his phone. It was from an unknown number.

Men's room, now.

Peter scanned his brain for anyone he knew whose number he didn't have, but was drawing a blank. And the message was so short- almost ominous. He debated for a second whether he should act on it, but decided he'd at least go find out what it was. He stood up, an excuse tumbling from his mouth. "I, er, gotta go-"

"Where are you going, Peter?" MJ asked, leaning forward across the table. She sounded deadly serious. The rest of the team was quiet. "What are you hiding?"

Peter could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he froze. "Er-"

MJ's face broke into a smile. "I'm just kidding, I don't care-" she waved him off, "go."

Peter left hurriedly, relief flooding his body as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and made for the nearest men's room. The text hadn't specified which one, so…

Across the hallway he saw Katya making her way towards him, looking down at her own phone, puzzled. She stopped just in time not to run into him. She glanced up. "Did you get this too?"

Peter nodded and furrowed his own brows, before leading the way into the bathroom. When Peter turned the corner, he came face to face with Happy Hogan.

"Hey Happy," he let out cautiously. His past interactions with the man hadn't always been positive. "What, er….what are you doing here?"

"And why are you texting us from weird numbers?" Katya added, "I have you in my contacts."

"I really owe you guys one," the larger man said. "I don't know what I would do without this job. Before I met Tony-"

Suddenly a toilet flushed, and a younger boy stepped out of the stall, giving the three of them an odd look as he washed his hands.

Katya snorted as the boy left. "How long have you been in here?"

"Long enough for it to be awkward." Happy grumbled, "Listen, boss wants to see you two."

They glanced at each other, and Peter's eyes widened. He lowered his voice. "Is he in here too?"

"What, in the bathroom? No, he's upstate." Happy told him. This time Peter's mouth fell slightly open, and he glanced at Katya, who just looked amused- almost as if she knew something he didn't, which he was going to have to grill her about later.

"Upstate upstate?"

"Yes, upstate upstate, let's get going."

The drive took what felt like ages, probably because Peter's stomach was churning with excitement the entire time. There hadn't been much talking, other than a small argument between Happy and Katya over what music to play, but Peter was so stuck in his own mind that he wasn't even sure who'd won.

"Take a look at that," Happy said proudly, clearly for Peter's benefit, "It's pretty impressive, huh? They just finished remodeling the whole thing."

As they turned the corner, the new Avenger's Compound came into full view, and it was breathtaking. Sleekly built with chrome and glass, the fluidity of the design and the minimalist yet posh utilitarianism of the whole thing just added to it's impressiveness. He could see a fleet of jets parked to one side, and the bright white driveway led them directly to the front landing.

"Katya, you live here now?" Peter asked in awe.

"Yeah?"

"Whoa…"

Once Happy had parked, Peter found himself, Happy, and Katya standing on one of the upper levels, watching through the floor-to-ceiling windows as a sonic jet took off. "Don't get to see that every day, huh?" Happy sounded like a proud parent.

"Oh there they are!" Came Mr. Stark's voice, which he appeared soon after, clad in a navy suit and his usual AI glasses. HIs tone suggested he was in a good mood. "How was the ride up?"

"Good." Happy answered for them. Peter was still ogling the interior.

"Give me a minute with the kids." Mr. Stark told Happy, who nearly balked.

"What?"

"I gotta talk to the kids."

Happy nodded seriously. "Okay, I'll be close behind."

"How about a loose follow," Mr. Stark clapped a hand on Happy's shoulder. "Boundaries are good."

It took Peter a moment to register the good-natured punch Mr. Stark gave his shoulder. He was still having a hard time believing any of this was real- especially when Mr. Stark put an arm around him and Katya, who was on his other side, and the three began to walk.

"Sorry I took your suit." Mr. Stark began, his voice doing that clipped-casual thing that suggested he was actually in a good mood. "I mean, you had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect sort of tough-love moment that you needed, right, to urge you on, right, wouldn't you say so?" Sometimes it was hard to keep up with the pace Mr. Stark spoke. "Don't you think?"

"Er, Yeah, er-"

"Let's just say it was. You screwed the pooch hard, big time, both of you. But then you did the right thing- you took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies.."

Katya managed to lean forward enough to catch Peter's eye from across Mr. Stark's form, shooting him a confused glance. Peter wasn't sure where this was going either, but they continued walking towards an open faced room at the end of the hallway.

"-All right,not my best analogy," Mr. Stark waved his hand dismissively,and immediately the side walls of the room lit up, displaying suit blueprints. They still weren't close enough for Peter to make out what they were, though. Mr. Stark was still talking.

"I was wrong about you," they were ascending the few stairs that lead into the room now, "I think with a little more mentoring, maybe a little more training-" He tightened his arm around Katya's shoulder, probably playfully, but Katya cried out in surprise. Still didn't stop Mr. Stark.

"I think you could be a real asset to the team."

Peter couldn't have heard him right. "To the-to the team?"

"Yeah, so, there's about fifty reporters behind that door- real ones, not bloggers-" Mr. Stark smacked the face of his watch and what Peter had thought was a wall opened into a suit chamber, revealing an updated Spiderman suit, with proper plating, reinforcements- a substantial upgrade from the one he'd had taken away from him. "Why don't you try that on, and then I'll introduce the world to the newest official Member of the Avengers- Spiderman."

It was everything Peter could have ever dreamt of. Aside from having just gotten Mr. Stark's verbal approval, there was now proof in front of him that he could be so much more. That Mr. Stark knew he could be so much more. He tried to say something, a few times, but the words kept escaping him. He turned to glance at Katya, but realized that she'd stopped walking a few steps behind, and was rubbing her arm self-consciously, staring at seemingly nothing. . Peter couldn't help but notice- not that he'd looked for it earlier- that she wasn't wearing her Widow's gauntlet. She looked so….nervous, something Peter wasn't used to seeing on her. The closest he could remember was that weird, vacant gaze that she'd had a Liz's party when the foghorn noises had gone off, mirrored in her expression now.

She must've felt his eyes on her, though, or something snapped her out of it, because she raised her gaze to meet his. She grinned at him. Go, she mouthed, gesturing with her chin towards the suit.

Peter vaguely registered Mr. Stark and Happy talking to each other behind him, but his eyes were still glued on the suit. Intricate chrome wiring outlined the Spider pattern on the chestplate, that wound and twisted its way throughout the rest of the suit. And the way the light glinted off of it….

It looked so powerful.

There had to be a catch. Didn't there? That Mr. Stark would go from telling him to stop everything he was doing, to immediately recruiting him for the team- he obviously knew about what happened with Vulture, this wasn't all coming out of nowhere, but Katya had helped him so much with that, and she didn't have a suit waiting for her in that room of her own. And that wasn't fair. Even though she kept saying she wanted to stay far away from all of this, her behavior- and just how well, he realized, he knew her- suggested otherwise. She was made for this. Not for killing, not to assassinate, but to help, because that was the kind of person she was. Would he even be half the Spiderman he was without her?

This had to be some sort of test. Mr. Stark was clearly trying to get into his head, trying to figure out whether Peter truly knew his capabilities, his strengths- and his weaknesses. This was some sort of Mentor-Mentee turning point, it had to be.

Mr. Stark had stopped talking to Happy it seemed, so Peter turned. "Thank you, Mr. Stark. Really. But I'm- I'm good."

Mr. Stark looked genuinely confused. "You're good? Good- how are you good?"

"Well I'm- I mean, I'd rather just stay on the ground. For a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spiderman, and all that. Someone's gotta look out for the little guy, you know?"

Mr. Stark raised his eyebrows. "You're turning me down?" He glanced over Peter's shoulder for a second, most likely at Katya, because he came back with, "is this because of her? I have a suit for her too, she just needs a little more convincing I think-"

Peter shook his head hurriedly. "No, no. I just think I"m good where I am right now, is all."

"Last chance, yes or no?"

"No."

Mr. Stark looked perplexed, and even took his glasses off momentarily. "Okay. It's a kind of Springsteen-y working class hero vibe, but I dig." He pocketed his glasses in the inside front of his suit. "Happy will, er…take you home then. Yeah?"

Happy, who stood a mere six feet away, replied. "Yeah. But would you mind waiting in the car for a little bit? I gotta talk to the boss."

Peter nodded. "Thank you again, Mr. Stark."

"Yep, Farewell, I'll see you around."

Peter descended the stairs, smacking his open hand with his other fist. Nailed it. He heard the hydraulics of the suit chamber closing. Just to confirm…

"That was a test, right?" he called back to Mr. Stark. "There's nobody back there?"

"Yes, you passed." Mr. Stark answered, a little too quickly. "Now skedaddle."

Beaming, Peter turned around, and by that time Katya had made it to his side to fall into step with him.

"That wasn't a test." She told him quietly, as the pair continued to walk away. For a moment Peter froze, but he recovered almost immediately.

"What do you mean it wasn't a test? He was clearly trying to see if-"

"I heard him and Pepper talking earlier this morning, there's definitely people behind that door. The Times and the Tribune, at the very least."

Peter swallowed, hard. Part of him wanted to turn around, run back up those stairs, and jump immediately into the suit. Part of him wanted to make up that he'd been joking, or something, anything to take back what he said…

As they walked, Katya's fingers brushed his, and he instinctively intertwined them. That part of him was immediately silenced.

He- Spiderman- pauchok- was exactly where he was supposed to be.

A/N: And that ends part one of the Homo Archaea series! Stay tuned for the sequel, The Dangers of Molting. THis will be an entirely original plot that spans the time between Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you all there!

—- —-

"Myshka," Peter hissed, grabbing her wrist so he could see the tracker too. It showed Aneszka moving around in midtown, nearing Rockefeller Center. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" She managed to get her other arm through her coat and began to button it up. "I'm finishing this. She's not that far."