Peter

Unfortunately, around 2 AM, Peter woke up to his watch buzzing. He looked down at it blearily and there was a message from Karen.

Peter, your vitals suggest you are in distress. I have no sensors in this room, but if it wasn't from a nightmare, it might be your soulmate connection. I suggest re-establishing connection if it has been interrupted.

Peter's hand was already automatically feeling for Hallie, even before he processed the message, and he didn't find her immediately. He sat up and saw her a good two feet away. She was asleep, but if his vitals were registering a problem, hers were probably worse.

"Karen, any idea how long?" His head was aching a little, and he felt nauseated and a little shaky. It had been nice not having this feeling at all the last couple days.

"No, I didn't register much movement on your end, so it must have been Hallie that moved." This time her voice came very quietly from his phone on the nightstand.

They had been so tired the night before they had neglected to build their pillow walls that helped them avoid this problem.

Peter scooted over to where his wife was curled on her side facing away from him, and cuddled into her back, making firm contact with her soul mark. He pressed his wrist to her stomach as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Almost instant relief. He hadn't realized she was tensed up until he felt her slowly relax in his arms. Good. She probably hadn't even been aware of her discomfort. He kissed the back of her head, and tried to settle back into unconsciousness.

"Thanks, Karen."

"You're welcome. Sleep well, Peter."

Hallie

The next morning Hallie was nudged awake by her very chipper, very handsome husband. He was in running shorts and a tank top, and her eyes blinked rapidly trying to take it all in.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. It's almost 6, and Chase and Casey are ready to run with us. Alex told us to go to… well, never mind. Hurry and get dressed."

Hallie sat up sleepily and just sat there for a minute, admiring him. "I've never seen those clothes before; are they new?"

"Well, yeah. I didn't exactly bring any workout clothes, just jeans, so they sent them up from the gift shop last night. I just said 'running clothes in a men's medium,' and this is what I got." He rolled his eyes slightly.

"I hope you gave them a big tip," Hallie said, grinning as she finally stood up and stumbled towards her suitcase, grabbing some clothes to change into before slipping into the bathroom. She glanced behind her to see Peter sporting an unreadable expression on his face. Well, good. It wasn't often she got a chance to fluster him.

Their run was glorious. Both of the other men were in great shape, and were able to keep up with Peter and Hallie. They started running around the big extended "block" surrounding Disneyland, but soon realized it was more than 2 miles. They picked up the pace and finished the 3+ miles in about 25 minutes. When they got back, Hallie was out of breath, but full of adrenaline, and they were laughing as they returned to their rooms for quick showers. Hallie could just imagine Betty tapping her foot with her imaginary clipboard, and hustled. Peter had picked lightweight, long-sleeved shirts for that day (We'll be leaving as it gets really warm) with "Avengers Campus" across the back in red.

"You're kidding, right?" Hallie asked, holding hers up dubiously, leaning halfway out of the bathroom. She was just wrapped in a towel, and Peter looked a little torn between looking at her and answering her.

"Uh… what?"

"I thought we were trying to lay low!"

"Um, 'Avengers Campus' is a part of California Adventure, Hal. Have you not looked at the map and attractions yet?"

"Well, no. When we were saving up to go to Disneyland, it was just going to be a one-day thing. I didn't ever look at the other park."

"Well, it's probably new since then anyway. Like… 2020? 2021?"

"Oh, yeah… so what is it? It's about the Avengers?"

"Oh, this is going to be fun. I didn't realize you didn't know about it. Yeah, you're just going to have to see it. And I promise, we'll blend in with these shirts. He was finger combing his damp curls, and topped them with a red and blue "Captain America" baseball cap.

"This is so weird." She retreated back into the bathroom to get dresses.

And it was. After hitting "Pixar Pier" and actually beating Peter's score on the Toy Story ride, screaming her head off on the Incredicoaster, (it took Peter a few minutes of persuasion to get her to attempt that one while she stared at the loop) and feeling like she might fall off the whole track on Goofy's Sky School, they finally headed over to Avengers Campus.

Hallie felt like her head was on a swivel as they walked through the area. Small, weird versions of things she knew about in the real world were everywhere. They passed a "Black Widow" character and saw an "Iron Man" (in what looked like a decent replica of one of his early suits, but with a good amount of plastic. Peter snapped a funny selfie with the character in the background to send to his dad.) Betty was leading them to a ride named after the Guardians of the Galaxy, which they had a lightning lane for, and it was just kind of… surreal.

The Guardians ride was intense. And a whole lot scarier (and more fun) than Hallie expected, with lots of unexpected ups and downs. They had yet another hilarious picture to add to their collection, since none of the first-timers knew they were taking a picture when the door opened at the top. Hallie was half worried the attraction was going to dangle them out over the edge or something, and she had a death grip on Peter's arm.

Next they grabbed food at a place that seemed based on Hank Pym's technology, and Ant-Man's ability to grow and shrink. Everything was oddly sized, but tasted okay. It was all tiny eggs and giant french toast, and weirdly shaped tater tots. Very strange, but lots of fun.

Then they walked towards a ride called Webslingers.

"Again, are you kidding me here, Peter? There's a Spiderman ride, and I didn't know about it?" Hallie whisper-yelled at him.

"There are actually a couple others at other parks, like Universal in Florida. But this one is kind of… unique."

"How so?"

"Well, they designed it shortly after we had 'proved' that Peter Parker and Spiderman were definitely not the same person, despite all the rumors, and Disney asked me to be part of this, actually, kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing… And asked if they could use the Stark name and ideas on other projects SI might be involved in, hypothetically. We did most of the groundwork and filming for it in like 2018."

Hallie felt (and probably looked) confused. "You're… part of this ride? Like as Spiderman?"

"Not exactly. Someone else played Spiderman, but most of that is actually computer-generated." Peter looked a little embarrassed, but also excited for her to see what he was talking about. "Just… don't draw attention to us in there, okay? I don't look a lot like my 17-year-old self, especially right now, but you never know…"

Hallie was about to die from curiosity. Thankfully, they used the lightning lane for that, as well, and she only had about ten minutes before she found out what Peter was talking about. Because there he was (his younger self) on the screen, talking and interacting with computer-generated spider-bots, and it was his voice speaking to them most of the ride… it was so weird. But also really fun. And he was pretty much the cutest thing ever. So like himself, but younger-looking, obviously, and a little more bubbly. He was pretty good at playing his part, and Hallie thoroughly enjoyed herself. There was one lead cast member who kept sneaking glances at Peter while they waited to board, and he looked like he knew. But he didn't say anything or draw any attention, bless him.

After they finished their ride (where Peter had beat all of them soundly, of course; he'd ridden the ride a lot in its early publicity phase, and had even helped with a few design issues, he had told her in whispers while they waited after the pre-show) they walked out and took a right, pausing by a brightly-colored Spiderman-themed graffiti wall to get drinks and figure out what they were doing next. They only had a few hours left.

"Pete, you were adorable!" Hallie finally got to say, once they were away from other people. "But what in the world made you think it was a good idea to film this?"

"Tony actually thought it was a good move, and Nat agreed. What better place to hide, than in plain sight?" When we brought Greg on board to help refute the big Bugle article, we were even seen together a few times to sell the "close friends" angle, including here at the grand opening. Though that did make my 'Peter Parker' persona a bit more of a target." Peter had pulled her in close and they were talking very softly, while Ned and Betty good-naturedly debated their next destination.

"Because of that, there were several kidnapping attempts, and a couple were partially successful. For a few years there, I think Tony had every tracker imaginable on me. He's still paranoid, but now it's mainly just my spider suit, since the nanites will only release for me or for him. Oh, there's also the microchips."

"Microchips? Like in you? Bruce mentioned something about that, but it sounded crazy."

"Yep," and Peter popped the p. Obviously he agreed that it sounded crazy. "My nano housing units (he held up a wrist slightly) transmit anytime I'm not in the Tower, the Malibu house, or at the cabin. If anything happens to those, and they both stop transmitting, which of course triggers alarms with FRIDAY, the main microchip activates and starts signaling. If they use scanning equipment and find and deactivate or remove the first chip, there's a sleeper chip that activates 2 hours later."

Hallie was kind of blown away. That was more extensive than Bruce had indicated. Of course, people were probably more likely to try to capture Peter or Spiderman than they were the Hulk…

"Peter, that is like… next-level crazy." He shrugged, seeming to agree, but accepting it.

"But unless they're transmitting, they're pretty much undetectable. Tony's nothing if not thorough."

Peter was looking at her with those big brown eyes of his, concern etched in his face as he tried to gauge her full reaction. He gently stroked a piece of hair behind her ear before he continued.

"I know it sounds crazy big brother-ish, but I'd really like you to at least consider letting us do the same to you. He brought one hand back to scrub at the back of his neck, obviously uncomfortable bringing it up. Between SI stuff and Avengers stuff, we're kind of a bunch of walking targets," he muttered softly.

He pointed to her bracelet, which she had almost stopped noticing. "That's super useful, but also too removable," he said worriedly. "Tony's pretty much got anyone he cares about chipped at this point. Pepper, Rhodey, Morgan, Happy, May. He even talked Natasha into it. And you already talked to Bruce. A few other Avengers have asked Tony for the same, along with their families, as a failsafe." Hallie looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to their conversation, but no one seemed to be.

"I don't know, Pete…"

"I would never push it on you. Just please, think about it? I love you, and can't imagine losing you, and not being able to find you. There's no rush right now, though." He leaned in and kissed her forehead, wrapping his arms around her waist, and moving the fingers of one hand lower to deliberately make contact with her soul mark. She sighed in contentment and let her whole body relax against him.

"Cheater. Such a cheater."

"I would never," he replied innocently. He dipped his head to kiss her properly, but of course that was Ned's cue to interrupt.

"Hey, guys? I know you're busy and all? But we're going to go ride Soarin,' which is awesome, and then hit Radiator Springs Racers. You in, or should we come back in a while?" Ned teased.

"You can pick us up at one," Peter growled. Then he sighed dramatically and released Hallie.

"Lead the way, oh great and all-knowing tour guides." Ned laughed at that, completely unperturbed at breaking up their moment, and they all headed for another simulated adventure.

Hallie, predictably, loved both of the final rides they went on, and then they spent some more time in Avengers Campus to check out the merchandise. Hallie was especially fond of a certain understated Spiderman hoodie, and Peter rolled his eyes a little, but of course got it for her. She immediately snuggled it in her arms like a child with a new stuffed animal.

They had to say good-bye to Ned and Betty about one, but the couple was going to stay in the parks the rest of that day, and stay one more night at the hotel, as a thank you from Peter for their help.

Hallie was surprised to find that their whole security team from the trip had arrived at the airport together, and were boarding the plane with them. Peter pulled her aside to explain.

"So, one reason we wanted Chase and Ty with us this weekend was to make sure you got along with them. If it's okay, they, along with Casey, are going to be your security team once everything goes public tomorrow. Are you okay at least trying it out? If it's not working out, we'll shuffle some different people in." He absentmindedly reached out to smooth her hair down while she processed what he'd said.

"Um, yeah. Actually, that's great," Hallie said, "I really like both of them. But why didn't you tell me before now?"

"Sorry, love. I would have discussed your team with you before now, but we just barely got some of the details nailed down Friday when we realized Chase was just what we were looking for. I should have consulted with Nat sooner."

"'Nat' as in Natasha?" He nodded. "Consulted with the Black Widow, about my, uh… security team?" she asked in confusion. "And what does that have to do with Chase?"

"Yep. We're all very interested in keeping you safe, dolcezza," he assured, nuzzling into her hair and pressing a kiss behind her ear. "And Chase is… special in that she was raised the same way Nat and her sister were from about age 10 to age 16. Which is not good, at all, but she did come out of it with some impressive skills." Peter frowned, seeming to be upset about something. "Anyway, Nat and Yelena rescued her and returned her to her family at 16, but after she fast-tracked her degree, she and Ty have actually been living with Nat for the last 10 months, doing some more training. When I asked her about you, she brought up Chase and Ty, and I realized it might be a perfect fit."

"That's… a lot of information." His face looked apologetic. "But I really do like them, so, I guess it all works out?"

"Awesome," Peter smiled. That was kind of the point of having them here. We didn't really need that much security at Disneyland, but we were hoping it would help you feel comfortable with them before tomorrow. Not that I'll be leaving your side much for a while still," he said, kissing her forehead. They resumed walking towards the plane, their hands swinging between them.

"Peter?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"Tomorrow is two weeks since our bond, right?"

"Yeah," he smiled happily at her.

"Didn't Tony say by two weeks we should be able to do like eight hours apart if needed?"

He looked contemplative. "Normally, yes. By now it's generally at that stage. But our bond doesn't seem very typical. The time has been increasing though. I'll bet we could do an hour now, or definitely the 50 minutes most of your classes are. Don't worry, we'll get there," he assured her.

"I just know you're really busy. I feel bad making you keep going to class with me, and…"

"Hey, now," he stopped her. "It's okay. It's such a short period of time in the long run, and we'll work it out. A lot of my SI work can be done remotely. After tomorrow's craziness we'll take a look at the next two weeks and plan it out like we did the first one. It will be easier being able to be apart for sixty to maybe even ninety minutes than it was when we could only go fifteen to twenty, right?"

Hallie nodded, then pulled on her new hoodie in the cooler cabin air before sitting down next to Peter and buckling. Chase, Ty, and Casey had taken their seats towards the other end of the cabin, giving Hallie and Peter a little privacy. Hallie shifted to lean her back against Peter and watched eagerly out the window as they took off.

Peter

After about 30 minutes, Hallie started yawning and leaning harder, and her blinks were getting longer.

"Hey, babe, you wanna lay down?" Peter asked.

Hallie's eyes popped open. "Why?"

He smiled softly. "Because you're falling asleep? Take a nap. We've got a few hours. And it could be a late night."

"Oh. Okay." She yawned again, and unbuckled.

"Stand up real fast and I'll convert the seat."

She did, and soon she was laying out on the bench seat with her head pillowed in his lap, his fingers tracing gently through her hair. "Will it keep you awake if I call Tony?" Peter asked.

"Not likely," Hallie mumbled. "Your voice relaxes me."

He smiled, and raised his phone. Karen was ahead of the game, and was already connecting the call.

"Hey, bud! On your way home?"

"Yeah, we're probably over Colorado at this point."

"Good to hear. How was it?"

"So, so good, dad. We had a fantastic time, and everything went really well. Thanks for your help making it happen."

"Yeah, I am pretty amazing, aren't I?"

Peter grinned. "Don't ever change, Dad."

"Now why would I do that?"

Now Peter laughed. "I miss you."

"Definitely miss you too, Pete. You'll be home soon, though. Any plans tonight, or you want to hang out?" That was basically code for "snuggle in front of the TV because we haven't spent nearly enough time together lately."

"Definitely no plans that don't involve you, but I wondered if we might go down to the lab for a bit? There was something I wanted to work on in my HUD. And I wanted to chat about going out as Spiderman some this next week?"

"I don't know, Pete… your bond is still very unsettled for two weeks in. I mean, if anything happened…"

"Well, what I was going to ask is if you'd be willing to shadow me."

His dad was silent for a minute. "You hate when I do that."

"Not hate, and you haven't done it for years. I just thought it might be a safer way for me to get back out there a couple nights this week. I really miss it, and people have been covering for me for long enough. Maybe just an hour at a time?"

"Yeah, of course, Pete. I'd be happy to."

"And you agree that would decrease the risk factor significantly?"

"Well, yeah. But you'll need to ask Hallie how she feels about it."

"Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, dad. I'm excited just thinking about it. Other than like when we went to Italy, I haven't been out of the action this long since… I don't know if I ever have."

"Mmm, that head injury you had in 2022 was pretty intense. Helen wouldn't clear you for nearly three weeks."

"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. But I don't remember some of that, so…"

"Yeah, you didn't remember much of anything for a while there. That was not a good time." Peter hummed in sympathy. He knew that, as his soulmate, his dad had taken it especially hard.

"On to happier topics… "

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. What does Hallie think of Nat's people? And Casey?"

"She likes them. We had a good time yesterday and today, so I'm feeling optimistic. They're coming home with us."

"That's great news. Also, that was a great idea you had, to have them come along so they could all get used to each other."

"Thanks. It was a bonus to have so many security people with us, actually. My spidey sense only buzzed a few times, and I'm pretty sure that's because a few people recognized me."

Peter spent another twenty minutes sharing some of the highlights of their time at Disney, and about waking in the night, and their run that morning, and about Hallie's reaction to his role in Webslingers. Tony let him know what had been going on SI-wise since he left, and about Morgan's book report presentation, and about some updates he wanted to install in the Tower's a/c system. It had been a while since he'd just gotten to just chat with his dad, and he missed it.

"I'm glad you guys had such a great time." Peter could hear the smile in Tony's voice. "And I'm glad you're headed back. See you soon, yeah, kid?"

"See you soon, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too. " There was a muffled "oof" from the phone. "Pepper also sends her love, " he said dryly.

"Love you too, Pep," Peter said a little louder. "See you both tonight."