((AN: I do have a slight trigger warning for this chapter. It has violence. Swearing too.))

For awhile everything was good. Peter wasn't close friends with Eddie or anything, but he ignored him. Peter spent a lot more time at Tony's too. Pretty much every weekend he would be there, and many weekdays as well. At first, he had been worried it would be too much for the Starks, but Tony always had the same response when he mentioned it.

"I like you being here," Tony said. "We all do. Morgan thinks of you as a big brother."

He did know Morgan loved him being here. He would always play with her and help her with her homework now that she had started school. She didn't really need much help since she was probably going to be a genius like her dad.

"Yeah but Pepper probably wants to be around her real family and not just—"

"Don't finish that," Tony said. "And Pepper likes you being here too. We all do."

And so that was that.

Lots of the Avengers would hang out around too. He loved spending time with them. Clint was teaching him archery and Captain America would help him with his history homework by telling him stories. Wanda was just a lot of fun to hang out with and the two of them would play Mario Maker. Bruce would discuss his gamma radiation research with Peter and never treated him like a kid.

It was great. Peter had a second family.

May only occasionally would mention how he was gone a lot and he always avoided that by saying how he had missed Tony. She seemed to accept that and would mention how Tony understood more the superhero lifestyle that Peter was living.

It was true and yet it made Peter feel bad, but she seemed happy. Whenever he was there, he would try to see any bruises. He would try and see if she was acting weird or anything like that.

Once she caught him looking at her.

"What's wrong?" May asked when she was about to meet Eddie for a date.

"I…" Peter leaned against the counter. "How have you and Eddie been?"

"What?" May asked. "We've been fine, baby."

"Oh, that's… that's good," Peter said. Would she even tell him though if Eddie has done something to her? Maybe she would try and protect him even though he was Spider-Man and could take care of himself. "I just…. I know you argue sometimes."

He didn't know how much. It didn't seem that much but they had been arguing the other night. Peter hadn't known what to do during that. Maybe he should be around more.

"People argue sometimes. You know Ben and I argued sometimes."

Yeah, they had, but Ben had been a gentle and good man. He didn't have a violent bone in his body.

Still Peter nodded. "I know that. I just… I wanted to make sure." He tried to make it sound like he wasn't actually concerned.

"He wouldn't do that to me," May said, pulling him into a hug.

"Good because I'd never let anyone hurt you," Peter said.

May nodded and then touched one of his curls. "Why'd you ask that, Peter?"

He froze. What was he supposed to say? Maybe he should tell her the truth about what had happened. Sure, it had been almost a month ago but she'd want to know. If he told her, that could be the end of her relationship with Eddie.

"You don't seem to like Eddie all that much," May said. "The two of you… something seems wrong."

He really could just tell her now. Maybe May would be able to fix all of this. But when he tried to tell her it was as if nothing would come out. Besides, things were different now.

Weren't they?

"I'm okay," Peter said. "It's great."

May looked at him, but then she paused and nodded. "Okay, but I want you to know that you're my number one priority. Not some man."

But he shouldn't be. He wasn't even her biological nephew. He had been related to Uncle Ben by blood and now he was gone too, and even if Tony and May had both told him before that it hadn't been his fault, that didn't change that he should have done more.

"Okay, but if you ever have anything to talk to me about then you can," May said as she gave him a weak smile. "And not when it just comes to Eddie. When it comes to everything. I know I might not understand superhero things as much as Tony but still."

"I will, May," Peter said.

And he wished that talking to her always could be as easy as this. Right now, he just had to hope and believe that he wouldn't have the need to tell her anything about Eddie. He wished things could just continue being… okay.

They were just plain good when he was at the Starks'.

But it wasn't right for him to spend all his time there, not when May had to miss him. And despite what Tony said, they couldn't always want him to be around, even if Tony did say that he was like a son to him.

So now he was trying to be better, even if that just led to Peter locking himself in his room most of the time and doing homework. He had already sent his applications off and even done some interviews for college so he just had to wait. Tony kept telling him he shouldn't worry about it.

"The universities will be lining up to take you," Tony said when he, Peter, and what Tony called the whole Iron family went to some fancy Italian restaurant in town.

"Don't want you to go far way, Ro," Morgan said. That was her new nickname for Peter. He was pretty sure it came from Underoos. Morgan was currently sitting right in between Nebula and Harley.

"MIT isn't that far away," Tony said. "And Peter will visit lots. We can visit him too."

"Maybe we can be roommates," Harley said, grinning.

No way. Being roommates with Harley Keener actually seemed almost as scary as fighting Thanos. Who knew what Harley would do when he was sleeping as a joke?

"I don't think so," Peter said.

"But I know your little secret, Peter," Harley said, grinning. Everyone here knew about him being Spider-Man, but it was possible that other customers could hear. "But rooming with you would probably be lame. I'm thinking of getting an apartment soon anyway. You're going to be stuck living in a dorm."

"Where is MIT, Daddy?" Morgan asked her dad.

"Massachusetts," Tony said. "It's not that far away."

"Yes, we can visit Peter lots," Pepper said, smiling at her daughter.

"We will for sure," Tony said. "There is a lot I want to show you. It's my old stomping ground. Rhodey and I can give you an amazing tour. Right, Sour Patch?"

Rhodey grinned and nodded. "That's where Tony and I met."

"Yes, Sour Patch probably wants to go back just so he can reflect on that. How your life was changed from meeting me," Tony said, grinning.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Yours was changed just as much."

"Yes, Honeybear, because you're the best friend." Tony just grinned even wider when he said this. He took a sip of the wine he had.

"You know, I might not even get into MIT," Peter said. It was a hard school to get into. "And even if I do then-"

"Okay, Underoos, one you are going to get into MIT. I vouched for you and there is no way they're going to reject you when I've saved the world. Plus you have amazing grades and the Stark internship as well as other extracurricular activities."

Peter didn't know if he was referring to him being Spider-Man or something else.

"And you're obviously going to get a scholarship and even if you didn't, then I would pay for the whole thing."

Peter opened his mouth to argue with him about him paying, but he had this talk with Tony because and Tony always refused to budge. Later he might refuse to take his money, but he also suspected that he would mysteriously get a full scholarship if that was the case.

"So you're going to go to MIT. Just like most people in the family."

"I didn't go to MIT," Pepper said.

"What's MIT?" Nebula said as she stabbed a pork chop with a fork.

"Only the best university ever." And for most of the remaining part of dinner, Tony talked about MIT and his adventures there with Rhodey.

Eventually it was time to leave. Morgan took Peter's hand right away and smiled at him. "Petey, we should watch Tangled when we get home."

When we get home. It was as if the Tower was his home too and not just a place that he would visit sometimes, but it felt that way too. Almost more so than when he was at his real home and had to walk on egg shells.

Peter didn't get the chance to answer Morgan though because as soon as they walked out of the restaurant, the paparazzi swarmed them. The flashing was blinding. He wanted to put on EDITH just to block the light.

But that didn't matter.

What did matter was Morgan let out a small scream and jumped onto Peter. He barely managed to catch her. She wasn't used to the media. Pepper and Tony were trying to keep her away from them, but when she did encounter them… well, this kind of thing happened.

"It's okay, Morgan," Peter said, holding her close to him. He would never let anyone hurt Morgan.

"Leave me alone! My big brother Petey won't let you near me! Daddy won't let you hurt me either!" Morgan yelled at them.

Peter froze. He didn't get a chance to react at what she said. He didn't get to think too much about if the paparazzi had really understood what she said.

Because that was when Nebula made it worse.

She grabbed one of the paparazzi closest to them and yanked his camera away from him and then threw it at his feet. The paparazzi jumped away; his eyes wide with fear. "No one scares—"

"That's enough, Nebula," Tony said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

She gave him a horrible look but let him pull her away.

"You go near Morgan again and you'll—"

"Time to go, Nebula," Rhodey said.

Nebula made almost a growling noise at the paparazzi, but they left after that. The flashing lights of the camera followed them after that, but there were fewer and they got in the car without any trouble. The rest of the night, Peter, Harley, and Nebula watched Disney movies with Morgan.

Peter could hear Pepper, Tony, Rhodey, and Happy talking in the background, but he didn't try to make out the words, even though he probably could have. He was just happy that Morgan had gone back to smiling and was singing the words to the Disney songs.

Pepper was great at handling things like this and everything would be fine. And Peter doubted that anyone could do anything to Nebula even if they wanted. She was… well… scary.

After Peter, Harley, Morgan, and Nebula had finished watching Moana, Pepper came in. Morgan was already drifting off in Nebula's lap.

"Hey Peter, you okay?" Pepper asked as she went over and sat next to him.

"He's fine," Nebula said, not looking up from the credits of the movies.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Peter asked. His stomach twisted. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I know you haven't had much experience around the paparazzi."

"It's… You don't think they're going to think… I'm Tony's son?" Peter asked. "If they think than they might look more into who I am. They might find out I'm Spider-Man."

Pepper shook her head. "I'm going to handle all of this. It's going to be all right, but I know this can be a lot to deal with. It was difficult for me at first too. You could stay here tonight if you're worried about it."

"I… No, it'll be okay. They're probably more worried about Nebula destroying the camera."

"They had it coming," Nebula said without any emotion in her voice. "If they bother you, Peter, then I will deal with them too."

"I… Thanks, but I'll be okay, really. I told May I would be home tonight," Peter said. He had told said they could watch movies tonight. And that was what they did once he got home. Eddie, of course, didn't join them and just shot Peter a look when he walked in and then left to go to the other room.

But that was fine. He didn't want to be around him. The night was great. They watched some of May's favorite films instead of Peter's, which was fine with him. She had pretty decent taste, even if it was different than his and Ben's had been.

Ben had been the one who got him into movies like Star Wars. He had been as obsessed with them as Peter.

Peter went to bed happy. Today had been great. Well, except for the paparazzi. It was horrible that they would scare little Morgan who probably didn't fully understand why they were so obsessed with her family.

But he knew that Tony would be able to take care of her and if not Nebula would be. Nebula was… something.

But then he was awoken by someone yelling.

"What the fuck," someone said, pushing his door open. Peter shot up and saw Eddie who was glaring him. His eyes were lit up with anger. "You're on TMZ."

"What?" Peter asked, rubbing his eyes. Then it all came back to him. "It's…"

He hadn't thought they would concentrate too much on him. But Morgan had called him her brother in front of them.

"They think you're some kind of Stark," Eddie said. "People are going to say things. You know how many questions I already have to answer because of you at work."

Peter opened his mouth to say something but then May came in and put her hand on Eddie's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm sure Tony will know how to deal with this."

"Yeah… I'm sure…" But it was more that Pepper would find a way to deal with this. "They'll find a way to handle it."

"Yes, Tony and Pepper always do."

"They've caused crazy things like this before?" Eddie asked, spinning around to face May.

Peter threw his blankets on the floor and practically jumped out of the bed. He was angry. This could go bad. What if May made him angry? Peter would protect her!

"Well, not exactly like this, but it's going to be okay," May said.

Eddie groaned and then gently moved past her and left Peter's room.

"It really is going to be okay," May said as she came over to Peter and ruffled his hair.

"It's… They really think I'm Tony's son?" Peter asked.

May nodded. "But it will pass. This kind of thing happens to celebrities all the time and people move on eventually."

"Yeah but what if…"

"They're not going to find out your secret," May whispered. She took a couple steps toward the door now.

"I want to stay home today," Peter said. She was going to think that it was because of the media thinking he was Tony's son but that wasn't the main reason. Yes, it would be annoying for everyone at his school to be talking about him and if he really was related to Tony, but he could deal with that.

He just didn't want May to be alone with Eddie if he was this angry.

May looked at him and then she nodded. "I can stay home too if you want, baby."

It was tempting. Really it was. He would be able to spend more time with her. Maybe he could talk to her more about Eddie, especially after today's incident but… Eddie had a right to be mad about something like this. It must make life more confusing living with someone the media thought was related to the man who saved the world.

And he also knew that May was trying to get a promotion at her job. If she didn't go, then it might hurt her chances.

"No, it's okay." Really Peter could go to school after May left in a few hours. Eddie should be going to work then too, but it would be good to not deal with his classmates today. "It's okay, May. You should go to work."

May smiled and then kissed him on the forehead before leaving him alone. After that Peter looked at his phone which had been blown up with texts from… well, pretty much everyone, including Flash who had gotten his number once when they had been forced to do a group project together. Or rather Peter had been forced to do the group project while Flash did nothing.

Peter answered the texts to some people, but obviously not people like Flash. Pepper's text was the most encouraging, not surprising, but she was saying that she would find a way to handle this and that everything was going to be okay.

If anyone could make sure it was okay it would be Pepper.

He also talked on the phone for a short time with Tony who said he'd make sure everything was okay and not to worry.

May left soon after that and Eddie came into Peter's room and glared at him.

"You better not cause any trouble while I'm gone," Eddie said and with that he left slamming the door behind him.

Good.

Peter did originally just plan to hang out around the apartment. He could get ahead on his homework but he couldn't concentrate. He would find himself reading the same paragraph from his textbook over and over again.

He couldn't stay here in this house all day. He needed to get out and do something, especially since Eddie and May probably weren't going to let him leave this place. Maybe they would send him to Tony's later but if anything it would be the same there.

Right now Peter had a chance to patrol before he was completely locked up. And he wasn't going to lose that chance.

No way.

He had only been out for about twenty minutes when he got a call from Tony. Peter sighed and answered it.

"Everything's fine, Tony," Peter said. "I just needed to get some air."

"You probably have a lot on your mind, kid. Not sure patrolling is a good idea for you."

Peter wasn't surprised at all he would say something like this.

"It's fine, Mr. Stark."

"Don't call me "Mr. Stark," kid. I'm not old."

"Well, that's—"

"Don't finish that sentence, kid," Tony said. There was a voice in the background which Peter recognized at Captain America's.

"I just really need to get out. I was going to go crazy if I stayed locked up," Peter sighed. "You know what it's like."

After all he had been complaining about how much he hated being stuffed in that house in Wakanda and how he was going crazy. He should understand how Peter felt when it came to this.

There was a sigh. "Fine, Underoos, but you need to keep your head in the game. Don't do anything that I would do but also-"

"Don't do something you wouldn't do. I know, Tony, and I'm going to be good. Don't worry." He was about to add on that he was always good, but then Tony would probably mention the Vulture and how he kept going after him even when Tony had told him over and over again not to.

"Good, because if you're not then I'm going to send Spangles after you. Trust me, you do not want that. He's already preparing a speech to give you. Kind of like those PSAs, but it's going to be about when teenage superheroes do things their genius mentors tell them not to."

That… did not sound fun at all. Peter still had nightmares about that PSA he had to watch of Captain America over and over again when he had been in detention.

"Nebula is still here too."

That could be even worse since she would probably murder anyone who seemed like they might be a threat to Peter. Peter didn't murder.

"Or maybe I can come out of retirement for a couple hours just to rescue and embarrass you. It might be fun. It will be like old times and-"

"I'm not going to do anything wrong, Tony."

"Better not, kiddo."

And with that the call ended. Peter intended to listen to Tony. He really did. He just wanted to get out for awhile and do some good things. And at first that was what happened, he just helped give directions and assisted a lady at locating her car.

Then things changed.

It really wasn't that big of a deal. Something that Peter easier should have been able to handle. Yes, it was a robbery, but he had dealt with those a lot of times. Sometimes though… sometimes they reminded him so much of what happened with Uncle Ben.

And he let himself get distracted.

It could have been worse. He could have been shot. But instead he was… well… slashed with a knife. This kind of thing had happened many times, but it still hurt. He winced, but webbed up the robbers. He could already hear the police cars in the background, but still he called the police and left an anonymous tip just in case.

Peter than swung out of there.

"Peter, you appear to be injured. I would recommend-"

"No," Peter said, wincing. "We're not going to tell Tony what happened." He was in danger of him finding out as is. He could watch the videos of what happened and if that was the case, then Peter might soon have to deal with the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. What was his plan, you ask? Probably to embarrass Peter as much as possible.

"I'm fine, Karen," Peter said. "I can take care of this myself. Super healing, you know?"

There was a long pause.

"Karen? I'm seriously okay. Don't tell Tony. I don't want to worry him." And he didn't. Tony had enough stress without worrying about Peter and something that would heal soon anyway. "I can treat it myself. It's going to be okay."

"Okay, but if it worsens then I will have to notify Mr. Stark."

"Okay, fine. That's fine." It wasn't surprising really. He was just glad that he was going to have enough time to get home and try and treat this himself.

And soon he was almost back at the apartment, despite that each swing caused pain to shoot through his side. He probably should have taken his suit off earlier, but he was in pain and he just wanted this to be over so he got into his normal clothes in an alley closer to home. He couldn't bring himself to look at his wound. He would do that when he got home.

Before he took off the suit, Karen had tried again to make him notify Tony, but he had refused and yanked off the mask. Hopefully she would listen.

He stumbled into the apartment, knocking into a bookshelf that caused a vase that was on top of it to hit him in the shoulder, shattering on impact. Damn it. Peter was pretty sure that was something May's cousin had given her a couple years ago. He knew that he should clean up the glass, but his side and now his shoulder hurt.

Instead he staggered into the bathroom, pulling off his backpack and then his shirt. He winced when he saw his wound. It was red and angry and deeper than he thought it would be. Each time, his heart beat, pain shot through him and seeing this… it made it worse.

"No, no, no," Peter muttered. He grabbed some disinfectant he had but it probably wouldn't be enough. He rubbed it on his wound. When he pulled away, there was blood all over his hand. Blood.

"Fuck," Peter whispered. He was going to have to call Tony. That was if Karen hadn't already done it.

He was about to grab his phone to call him when he heard the front door opened. He hoped it would be Captain America, Tony, or even Nebula.

It wasn't.

Peter froze and tried not to even breathe when the door opened. He was so quiet that he could hear his heart beating.

"What the hell?" Eddie spat out.

Peter cringed, but he wasn't surprised. Of course, it couldn't be Tony, or Cap, or even Nebula. Things were never that easy for Peter. No, it always had to be really hard for him. That was just what happened because of his Parker luck.

But he couldn't do this right now. He couldn't face Eddie when he was injured like this. Peter crept closer to the door in the bathroom. Each tiny step he made was almost soundless. Almost. But Peter could hear it.

Eddie might be able to too.

But he didn't seem to. That was until Peter clicked the door locked. Then the apartment went completely silent.

"Peter?" Eddie asked, his voice echoing.

Great… This was going to be bad. This might not go well. Peter yanked his phone out of his backpack and opened his texts.

"Please come here!" Peter texted to Tony. "I need u!"

The three little bubbles on the phone showed that he was about to respond, but Peter couldn't wait to see what he said.

There was a pound on the bathroom door. Peter jumped to the side.

"Just hurry!" Peter texted. "At apt." Tony would know he was there because of the tracker in the Spider-Man suit, but he wanted to be careful.

"What the hell are you doing in there? What have you done?! There's blood and glass in the living room."

Fuck! How was he going to explain any of this?

"Hurry! Help!" Peter texted Tony one last time. Tony had responded to his previous messages, but Peter didn't have time to read it. He threw his backpack with his Spider-Man suit in the bathtub, hoping Eddie wouldn't see if it he got in. He gave the phone one last look and tossed it in after him. He pulled the shower curtain shut quietly, hoping Eddie wouldn't hear.

"Peter! You better open this now or you're going to regret it," Eddie yelled, banging on the door. It wouldn't be that hard for him to break it down if he wanted to.

"I'm sick!" Peter yelled back. Normally he would be able to handle Eddie. He was much stronger than him with his super strength, but right now it hurt to even move. He couldn't do this.

Maybe it was childish, but he needed Tony to show up. Or Cap. Even dealing with Cap's lectures would be okay because he would be able to handle Eddie. Nebula… well, Nebula would probably overreact and so it was probably best that she didn't come.

But even if she did… it might be okay.

"Sick? What is wrong with you, Peter?!" There wasn't an ounce of concern in his voice. No, he was mad at him. Peter would have to handle this until Tony came. He had fought the Vulture after a building fell on him. He could do this.

But he was bleeding a lot. Not just from the stab but also from where the glass vase had cut him. He should have let Karen call Tony when he was on patrol. He was such an idiot. Maybe he could handle this like he had on Homecoming night but…

He had gotten lucky in a way when the building landed on him. He hadn't been bleeding much, even though he had bruises that lasted for weeks after that. He shuddered at the thought of the building landing on him even now.

Would he get lucky now?

No, he was going to have to make his own luck. He could do it. Eddie was just normal and he didn't have wings. Peter was strong. All he had to do was get him to leave or stall him until Tony showed up.

"Open the damn door, Peter!" Eddie banged on it.

Peter ignored him and pulled his shirt back on. It was stained with his blood.

"I'm going to knock the door down! You know the paparazzi ruined my car because of you."

Insurance would cover that, wouldn't they? Peter knew how much Eddie loved that Nissan Xterra even though it was too tall to park in many garages here. He actually felt bad for him for a moment. But it was just a car.

And soon the moment had passed.

"May got in a car wreck because of you."

Peter's blood froze. "What?" he managed to get out. He couldn't breathe. There was no way that could have happened. No way! Just no! No! No! No! No! No!

No.

"She's in the hospital, so you better open this goddamn door! This is your fault!"

His fault. It was his fault. It had been his fault what had happened with Uncle Ben too. He could have saved him, but he had failed. And now it was his fault. His fault. His fault.

"Open the door. I'll tell you about your aunt."

A large part of Peter was screaming at himself not to do it. Maybe Eddie wouldn't be crazy enough to knock down the bathroom door after all. The neighbors could hear.

But he didn't seem worried about being quiet. Lots of the neighbors had to be at work but some would be home and would hear.

"Don't you want to hear about your aunt or do you not care about her?" There was a long silence. "Just like you didn't care about your uncle."

How dare he? Uncle Ben… he still thought about Uncle Ben and his death every day. That was why he became Spider-Man.

But he hadn't been there for Ben. He could have saved him. He had failed one of the most important people in his life.

Peter stumbled toward the bathroom door and paused. This was his last chance to keep it shut. If he waited, Tony would come. He would help him.

But he had to know about May.

So he opened the bathroom door.

Something hard hit him on the head. Peter staggered backward as everything in front of him got fuzzy. He fell in the bathtub, hitting his head.

He tried to get up but the world was spinning and his stomach was circling. He wanted to say or do something, but then something hit his head again and he blacked out.

((AN: Thank you for reading!

kellentia: I hope you like this giant chapter. I should have waited to post it but I really wanted to see what people thought of this evil one. And thank you. I try to leave the readers wanting more

ItsBeenAwhile8: I'm glad people are liking the other chapters too. I didn't just want to concentrate on the Eddie plot. I wanted to concentrate on his bond with the Iron Family too.

PicassoPenguin: Yeah, I sure wouldn't stay with someone if they were hurting someone in my family. I'd make them regret it. No one hurts my family. I hope you enjoy this new chapter!))