Six Months Later...

Queens, New York

Peter Parker

I sat on the firescape, swinging my legs while munching on a churro.

"Hey, Happy." I said through my phone. "Just calling in with my report for today."

I swallowed the bite of churro before I spoke.

"There wasn't much today. I stopped a bike theft. I helped a Dominican lady with directions and she bought me a churro, so that was nice."

I stared at a passing subway as it rambled down the track. The sunlight reflected off of the metal, making it look golden.

"I just feel like I could be doing more. I'm wondering if you have any real missions for me and if you've heard from Natasha at all. Call me back. Bye."

I ended my voicemail message and sighed.

I hadn't heard much from Mr. Stark since he dropped me off at my apartment.

I hadn't heard from the other Avengers, but since they were on the run, that made sense.

Day after day, I went on patrol. Other than a few pickpockets and small crimes, there hadn't been a lot of action.

I made daily reports via voicemails and texts, but I hardly ever got a response back.

How was I going to show Mr. Stark that I was ready to move up?

Natasha and Bucky were literal assassins that took down terrorists and aliens. Shouldn't I be dealing with threats that were on their level?

Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention.

Several burly guys were going into a nearby ATM.

Judging by their dark clothes and suspicious looks, I felt trouble brewing.

"Finally, I get some action." I said, rising to my feet.

Suddenly, a super important chip on my web shooter fell off. It was falling too quickly, so I lunged out to catch it.

I fell off the fire escape, but I steadied myself on the brick wall. Yeah, I might've been standing horizontally from the ground.

After it got dark, I saw the men put on plastic Avenger masks and get gear out of big, black duffle bags.

One of the pieces of equipment they had looked like a sideways jackhammer that glowed purple at the end.

One of the guys used it to cut through the steel guarding the ATM's stash of cash.

Using another device, they ripped the ATM from the wall with a crazy force field emanating from the tool.

They pulled out trays of 100's and began stuffing it in their bags.

Classic ATM robbery. Only this time with alien tech.

"This new tech makes it too easy!" said one of the robbers.

"Hurry up. We'll sack five more tonight." another guy said eagerly.

I walked into the building. They hadn't seen me yet.

I closed the door behind me. Should I sneak up on them, jump on the wall, or…

No, wait.

I decided I'd just casually lean against the wall.

I cleared my throat.

"Sup, guys? You've got your pin number?"

Everyone's heads jerked towards me.

"Whoa…You guys are the Avengers!"

Obviously, they weren't the Avengers. Why did they have to use plastic masks? The team was having a hard enough time with the Accords.

I punched two thieves in the face.

The other two ran at me. I leapt to the ceiling and took them down.

"Thor, Hulk, good to finally meet you in person."

I was hoping to meet the actual Thor and Hulk. Maybe Natasha could introduce me.

But like most of the Avengers, they had been missing since the Sokovia fight, so I probably wouldn't be seeing them anytime soon.

"I thought Thor would be more handsome in real life." I quipped.

While I was hanging from the ceiling, the Iron Man guy threw punches at me, which I dodged too easily.

"Iron Man? What are you doing robbing banks? You're supposed to be a billionaire."

I knocked him down.

"Let's wrap this up, guys. It's a school night!"

The Captain America guy grabbed one of their power tools and he turned it on.

Suddenly, a force field was holding me in mid-air. It felt like I was flying!

"This is getting a little weeeiiirrrddd."

Whatever this thing was, it was distorting my voice.

Captain America used the force field device to slam me against the wall and ceiling.

If it weren't for the weird, tingly sensation that I got from the force field, being shoved against the linoleum would've actually hurt.

It sent cash whirling through the air, creating one of those wind tunnel money boxes out of the bank.

This must've been crazy to watch from the outside.

Finally, I managed to latch onto the Captain America guy.

He lost control of the force field thing and it went berserk, shooting lasers out into the street.

A big explosion rocked the ground.

I looked up. Delmar's Deli from across the street was in flames.

"Mr. Delmar."

He was the guy that ran the Deli. I went to his shop once or twice every week. He was the nicest guy on the block. I would hate for something bad to happen to him.

I left the bank robbers and dashed across the street.

The first floor had fires scattered all over the place. Ignoring the flames and smoke, I leapt into the building.

"Mr. Delmar! Are you in there? Hello? Anybody?"

Eventually, I found Mr. Delmar in the back of the store, hacking up smoke with his orange tabby cat curled in a corner.

I helped them get out.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked, setting the cat into Mr. Delmar's arms.

"I already called the first responders." Mr. Delmar wheezed.

Oh, good. The firefighters could put out the fire while the police arrested….hold on.

I looked back at the bank.

The windows were completely shattered. Papers and debris were scattered everywhere.

And the bank robbers were gone.

Vanished with all the money and tech.

I had never seen anything like the stuff they used.

If your average bank robbers had force-field generators and laser jackhammers, then what did terrorists and organized gangs have?

I knew I needed to call Happy. After calling twice, he finally picked up.

"What is it this time, kid?" he answered gruffly. "I'm busy."

"Okay, so I was fighting these bank robbers down on-"

"Make it quick. My time is valuable…. Be careful with that!"

"What?"

"Nothing. Talking to Dume."

I continued on telling the story.

"So these bank robbers, right? They were using this super advanced alien tech."

I scaled a building with my phone in one hand. Once I got to the top, I crossed the roof and swung to the next building.

"Maybe you could patch me in with Mr. Stark. This is serious stuff."

Was I kind of hoping to just talk to Mr. Stark? Maybe. But he did need to know about this.

"Where are they now?"

"Who?"

"The bank robbers."

"Uh….they got away."

Happy sighed.

"Kid, if you're gonna keep doing this spider-man gig, you need to be more responsible."

"I'm very responsible!"

I dropped down into the alleyway where I left my backpack earlier today.

It was gone. Classic New Yorkers. Some of them will take whatever they can find.

"Great." I groaned.

"What?"

"My backpack got stolen."

"That doesn't sound very responsible."

"But seriously! These guys are out there. There may be others like them."

"I'm gonna be in the air in five minutes. You'll break up."

"No, wait. Happy-"

He hung up.

I sighed. It had been a long day.

Since my backpack with my clothes was gone, I had to make it back home in my spider-suit.

It was really late when I got back. I was dreading Aunt May's reaction. After fessing up about being Spider-Man, we made a deal that I could keep doing what I did as long as I stuck to a curfew.

It was now 9:00 a.m. An hour after our set curfew.

But this was the first time I broke it. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too mad.

I crept up the wall of our apartment, careful to avoid any windows.

I found my window and slid the top down. (I had rearranged the screws on my window for an easy escape and entry)

I crawled on the ceiling, accidentally making loud creaks with every step I took.

I shut my bedroom door. I wasn't ready to face May yet. If she was going to lecture me, I wanted to be in a normal change of clothes.

Very slowly and carefully, I landed on the floor without a thud.

Whew! I got into my room with no problems!

I heard a loud clattering sound behind me.

I whirled around.

The last thing I expected was for my best friend, Ned Leeds to be sitting on my bed with his mouth hanging open with the remains of a lego death star at his feet.

"What was that?" Aunt May called from the kitchen.

I couldn't come up with a good excuse.

My brain was still trying to deal with Ned seeing me in my spider-suit.

"Uh, nothing! It was nothing!" I shouted back.

I turned back to Ned, who had the same wide-eyed expression that a kid had when they caught Santa on Christmas Eve.

Explanations raced through my head, each more ridiculous than the next.

Ned, you're dreaming.

Ned! You've got me! I do cosplay!

Yeah, I got this suit from Spider-Man. Isn't it cool?

"You're Spider-Man?" he gasped.

I pressed a button on the suit and it slipped off.

"I'm not…." I panted. "I'm not."

With a trembling finger, he pointed upwards.

"You were on the ceiling, man."

My eyes bounced back from the ceiling to Ned. I was caught. There was no way out of this.

"That was…."

Suddenly, Aunt May came in, waving a towel while smoke steamed in.

"That turkey meatloaf recipe really didn't go well. Let's go get Thai. Ned, you want Thai?"

I stepped in front of him. Secretly, I was relieved that we weren't having meatloaf.

"Uh, no. Because Ned's got a thing going on."

"Yeah. A thing…" Ned echoed.

May stared at me in nothing but my underwear.

"Okay, then. We'll talk about this later."

She closed the door behind her.

She knew something Spider-Man-related was up, but she didn't know if Ned knew or not.

"Might wanna put some clothes on." she added.

A few minutes ago, I was worried about May, but now I had to worry about Ned.

I pulled on a shirt.

"She doesn't know?!" Ned whispered.

"No, she does know. But nobody else."

I stopped myself. Aunt May was the only one at home that knew.

"Well, her, Mr. Stark, and…my folks…."

Ned's excitement just kept growing.

"Your parents? I thought you were-"
"Adopted? Yeah. So did I."

There was so much I had to explain to Ned.

"This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me!" Ned exclaimed.

"No, Ned. You've got to keep this a secret."

He smiled gleefully. "I don't think I can. This is-"

"No, Ned. You can't!"

"But is it okay if-"

There was no way I could get him to keep this a secret.

"Ned, there's a reason I haven't met my parents until six months ago."

"What?"

"Look," I sighed. "It's a long story."

"Who… are your parents?" he asked hesitantly.

I paused. There was no way. I couldn't do it. My birth and my existence revolved around secrets and classified stuff. I couldn't just spill it all now.

But Ned was my best friend since elementary school.

He deserved to know, didn't he?
"You will not tell anybody this." I said with dead seriousness. "Or else, bad things are gonna happen."

Ned looked at me skeptically, trying to figure out if I was just trying to scare him into keeping quiet.

"What kind of bad things?"

"Like black SUVs pulling up to our street."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Just because you're Spider-Man?"

"No. Because of my parents."

People finding out I was Spider-Man would bring in the police and the FBI with Ross following behind.

If word got out about who my parents were, masked soldiers would come and take Aunt May and I away.

"And who are your parents?"

I was still uneasy about the whole thing.

"Ned, you can't tell anybody."

"Alright! Look, if you're in that much danger, then I won't tell anyone."

I sighed in relief.

"Thank you."

He smiled again.

"But you still haven't answered my question."

"Promise you won't freak out."

He scoffed. "Dude, my best friend is Spider-Man. Nothing can phase me anymore."

"Black Widow and the Winter Soldier."

"Black Widow is your- what?!" he shouted.

"Dude!"

"I'm sorry! That's just too insane.

He paced around the room.

"So let me get this straight," he started. "Your Mom is freaking Natasha Romanoff?"

I nodded. My eyes darted over to my desk where my fifteenth birthday card sat. It wasn't any birthday card. It was from Natasha.

It turned up in the mail last month with no return address.

"And your Dad is who again?"

"The Winter Soldier."

"What?"

"You know, the guy on the news?"

"I know who he is!"

I was worried that once I told Ned, he would treat me differently. But out of all of Ned's reactions, that hadn't been one of them.

His eyes lit up.

"Dude, your parents are assassins."

I grinned.

"Yeah. It's crazy."

Ned checked his phone.

"Okay. I've gotta go. But tell me everything."

He started out of the room.

"Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for keeping this a secret."

"No problem, man."

After he left, I changed into a new set of clothes and went into the living room.

Aunt May was looking at me curiously.

"Does he know?"

"Yeah."

Even though it felt weird that my best friend knew I was Spider-Man, it also felt a little freeing.

I didn't have to lie to Ned about where I went every night.

I was actually glad that he knew.

Thanks for reading!

It's Labor Day Weekend in the United States, so that means more time for writing!

(for those that don't know, Labor Day is where you get Mondays off from school and work)

Peter's relationship with Aunt May will definitely be different than in the canon.

Update: I changed the chapter some. I thought it would have a better flow if Peter and Ned talked about his parents in this scene than later on.