Chapter 1

Peter Parker Stark-Rogers plopped down next to his best friend Ned before their chemistry final. But chemistry was the last thing on his mind. Not when he knew he had this in the bag.

Instead, he was more concerned with other pressing matters.

Well, pressing may have been a bit of an overstatement.

It had been a little over a year since Thanos had showed up. Something he'd learned had happened in fact for the second time, as the first time it happened, his parents had travelled back in time and stopped it from happening. Despite the fact that for him, and literally the rest of the world, it had only happened once.

The real details of what had happened had been kept tightly under wraps. Even to the world governments, Toni, Steve, and the other Avengers, had decided to hide the truth from them all, not wanting them to know how bad it had gotten, and wanting to keep the fact that they'd invented Time Travel to themselves, lest it fall into the wrong hands and be misused.

And he was just fine with that. The cover story itself, that Bruce and Thor had brought warnings of Thanos, had been enough for the rest of the world. And it was enough that people at school had bugged him for weeks after, wanting to know more details about what had happened. But he didn't think he could ever talk about it. Not really. Not when he saw how haunted his mother and father had looked when they saw him after returning in time. Not when he knew they both still had nightmares of his and his little sister's death.

Thankfully, it seemed as if the world was ready to move on.

And he was ready to be a teenager for once.

Which involved one particular thing he wanted to do more than anything.

"I have a plan," he announced, knowing they still had about ten minutes before the exam started."

Ned looked up at him curiously.

"Okay, first, I'm going to sit next to MJ on the flight," Peter told him, and Ned nodded. "Second, I'm going to buy a dual headphone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time."

He'd thought this through. He'd done research and everything.

"Third, when we get to Venice, Venice is super famous for making stuff out of glass, right?" he pitched, "So I'm going to buy her a Black Dahlia necklace, because her favorite flower is the Black Dahlia, because of, well-"

He cut off.

"The murder," Ned agreed.

"The murder," he repeated, "Fourth, when we get to Paris, I'm going to take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and give her the necklace."

He'd be lying if he said he didn't stay up late thinking it through. He'd done so much research trying to come up with the most perfect plan to get together with MJ.

And how could he not? His parents had such a beautiful love story. And Aunt May and Uncle Ben had loved each other more than anything in the world. He didn't really know much about his birth parents, but from what his Aunt and Uncle had told him, they loved each other very much.

And he just wanted that for himself.

MJ was everything. She was smart and nice. She was sarcastic and jaded, but he knew that deep down, she was vulnerable. And well, she made him really happy.

"Then, fifth," Peter continued, "I'm going to tell her how I feel. And if all goes well, then sixth, if I'm lucky, she'll tell me she feels the same way about me too."

"Right," Ned nodded, "And then step seven."

"Seven?" Peter said in confusion.

"Don't do any of that," he said simply.

Peter scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Why not?" Peter asked, a little put out. He'd done so much work to plan it through.

"Because we're going to be bachelors in Europe, Peter!" Ned grinned, "Just think of how much fun the two of us can have. No parents, no rules, nothing."

"You know there will still be rules right?" Peter asked him cautiously, "And you know who my mom is right? If she thinks I'm remotely in trouble, you can bet your ass that she's going to know faster than you can blink."

Ned sighed, "Look, Peter. I may not be as experienced as you. But I do know this: Europeans love American."

Peter looked dubious about this.

"And more than half of them are women," Ned nodded.

"Ned," Peter sighed. "I really like MJ okay? She's awesome, and funny in a dark way. And sometimes when I catch her looking at me, I feel like I stood up way too-"

He cut himself off, as he saw her approaching.

"Dude, she's coming, don't say anything, okay!" Peter said quickly.

"What up, dorks? Excited about the science trip?" MJ asked, sitting in front of them, as she turned her chair around.

"Right, uh, yeah the trip," Peter nodded, "We were just talking about that."

"Yeah, and Peter's plan," Ned said enthusiastically.

Peter wanted to hit him.

"You have a plan?" MJ asked, curiously.

He shook his head quickly, "I don't have any plans!" Peter said, and MJ looked confused.

"No, he does!" Ned said again, and Peter wanted to groan, "He's going to collect tiny spoons and stuff while we travel to other countries."

Was that an innuendo?

Or was Ned just trying to be funny.

"Like a grandmother…?" MJ asked, unsure.

"I'm not collecting tiny spoons!" Peter's voice cracked. "He's collecting tiny spoons!"

"Uh, if you say so," MJ said, looking over at the two of them confused, "I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk that much about tiny spoons. That was a real roller coaster."

"Mm hm," Peter said, trying to sound cool, but failing miserably.

"By the way," MJ said, looking over at him, "You should probably download a VPN on your phone if you don't have one already, just so the government can't track you while we're abroad."

"None of those have anything on the one my mom has set up," Peter sighed, "If only there was a way to keep her off my phone."

"Yeah, I can't help you with that," MJ grinned, "Struggles of having a badass mother I guess."

"Yeah, it's the worst," Peter joked, knowing it was anything but.

"I'm going to go sit up front so I can leave this hell hole quicker when I'm done," MJ nodded at them, as the exam was about to start. "See you on the other side, Losers."

"Bye," Peter said quickly.

"Dude, I think that went really great!" Ned said, and Peter stared daggers at him.

Peter sat at the dining table with his family, which was turning into an entire ordeal, something that was far too common in their household.

While Morgan had been eating solid foods for a while now, getting Meg and Jamie to eat either of the baby foods was a challenge. It seemed like the twins always had a mind of their own, and what one liked, the other would refuse to eat, even if they liked it the day before.

"Morgan, try and get some of the spaghetti in your mouth, okay?" Toni sighed, as she fed a spoon full of mashed carrots to Jamie, who kept closing his mouth and squirming.

"Getti!" Morgan giggled as she lifted a piece of pasta to show to Peter.

"Very nice, Morg," Peter grinned as he looked at his younger sister. He was envious at times that the three of them would be close in age growing up, when he was so much older than them, however he would always remind himself that he'd be able to be there for them through anything they went through.

"Mmm," Meg squirmed away, as Toni tried with her.

"Come on, Sweetheart," his mother urged, "Take a bite, please? You liked this yesterday! It's really good."

Harley snorted at that, "It's mashed carrots. No one likes mashed carrots."

Toni glowered at him, "If you don't eat yours, then you can't have any dessert. And I know Steve made something great for dessert."

"Cannoli. Don't forget to eat yourself, Toni," Steve told her, as he placed a plate in front of her. He'd followed his mother's recipe for the meal.

"I won't," she smiled at Steve, as he pressed a quick kiss to her lips, before sitting across from Peter.

"You guys are so gross and domestic," Harley said from beside Peter as he shovelled a spoonful of pasta into his mouth.

"Aren't we?" she grinned, "Doesn't matter what time we're in. We're amazing together."

He knew his mother was talking about her stint in the 1940s, something he still couldn't wrap his head around. Apparently, his father had fallen so in love with his mother, that he begged her to leave her husband for him, not knowing that her "husband" was Steve in the future. It didn't matter how much the story made Harley gag, Peter thought it was adorable.

"Eat up, kids," Steve told him and Harley, "I'm going to be making the two of you run drills after dinner so you're going to need your energy. Especially you, Peter. I know how quickly you burn through food. So make sure to bulk up, okay?"

He nodded as he let Steve put another serving of spaghetti on his plate, followed by a slice of garlic bread.

"I'm going to sit in on this one," Toni added, "I have a few more simulations I'd like Harley to try. "It won't be long now before you're ready to be out in the field."

"You've been saying that for weeks," Harley groaned.

"I just want to make sure you're fully ready," Toni said firmly, "Besides. You are the next Iron Lad. Nothing is going to change that. Be it today or tomorrow, the suit belongs to you now. It's a new dawn for superhero fighting."

He still wasn't all that convinced about his parent's mutual decision to take a step back from fighting, but he understood it. The world was brimming with heroes now, and if they wanted to take a step back, then who could blame them? After the entire Thanos ordeal, it felt like their family was finally starting to heal and move on.

"Yeah, and maybe me and Spider-Man will finally be allowed to kick as…butt together," Harley said, correcting his language as Steve shot him a look.

"That's the dream," Peter said solemnly, "Iron Lad and Spider-Man: crime fighting duo."

"Iron Man," Harley corrected, and Toni shook her head.

"Lad," she amended.

Harley sighed, as he dug into his food.

"Abby's gonna be so jealous she missed out on your spaghetti," Harley said, taking a picture on his phone and Snapping it to his sister.

"Don't taunt your sister, Harley," Toni said in a warning voice, "Or you know she's gonna be upset."

Harley had moved to Boston last fall, to start studying at MIT, leaving behind his sister. Abby wasn't that much younger than them, and he knew she wanted to move to the city after she was done school, but it didn't help her fear of missing out when Harley could fly over to New York in less than twenty minutes, and she couldn't. Especially on school nights.

"Peter, you're barely eating," Toni said softly, as she noticed him pushing his food around, "Is everything alright? Are you nervous about your trip?"

He sighed, "I'm fine, I promise," he said, hoping they'd drop it.

Because he was excited for the trip! He was! He had a plan and everything to woo MJ. But there was a small part of him that wasn't certain going was the best idea.

"Peter," Steve said gently, "You don't have to bottle things in. You know that. Talk to us."

"I just am not sure it's the best idea to go on a trip right now," he said, a bit squirmish. "What if something happens, and I'm all the way over there? What if I can't get back in time?"

He'd died in another version of their reality. He was gone. And it had broken his parents.

He'd seen his mother snap her fingers to defeat Thanos. He saw her disappear before his eyes. And in the seconds before she'd reappeared, he'd had a thousand thoughts running through his mind. All of which concerned him losing her.

He didn't want something to happen to his family while he was across the ocean and feel helpless.

Steve and Toni exchanged a look, as Harley gave him a soft glance.

"Peter, I know you're worried that something could happen," Steve began, "But you can't live your life in fear of not being able to help. I hated leaving our family too, and when Thanos first came, I was across the world. So I get it. But you can't stop living because of the what-ifs."

"You're excited about this," Toni added, "Go on this trip."

"And win over the girl," Harley teased.

"MJ?" Toni looked over at him curiously, and Peter's ears turned red.

"Maybe?" he squealed out.

"I think that's very sweet," his father said, giving him a smile. "I'm sure she's going to reciprocate your feelings."

"You don't know that," Peter said as he stabbed his fork into the spaghetti, and twisting it firmly.

"I do," his mom squeezed his hand. "I've seen the way she looks at you when you're not looking. She likes you too, Pete."

"If you say so," Peter said, not really sure.

Because his parents were perfect together. They'd only had eyes for each other since they met. Even if it took them a while to get together. They were it for each other.

And he wondered if they remembered what it was like to have the anticipation of wondering if someone felt the same way about them.

"Mmmm," Meg protested as Toni tried again to get her to eat a bite. "Mmm."

She opened her mouth then, and Toni popped in a spoonful of food, stunning his youngest sister. To his surprise, Meg ate the carrots, swallowing it after a moment, instead of spitting it back out again. And when she looked curiously at the carrots, he knew Toni had won her battle.

Jamie, on the other hand, was happily eating the peas Steve was feeding him without any protest.

"One of these days, you'll say your first word," Toni smiled, "You're so close to Mama. We'll get there eventually."

"Not if she decides to say Dada instead," Steve teased her.

"No," Toni shook her head, "There are two of them. One of them will say 'Mom', even if I have to bribe them."

Peter snorted at that.

"Don't you snort at me, Mister," Toni shook the empty spoon that Meg had finally ate at him, "I still haven't forgiven you for stealing Morgan's first word from me."

"All I did was encourage her to say 'Peter'," he said innocently. The fact that Morgan's first word had been his name was still one of his crowning achievements, and well, he also enjoyed rubbing it into his parent's faces.

"Oooh, do you think I could get her to say mine?" Harley's eyes lit up, schemingly.

"Don't you dare," Steve said, and Harley laughed. "We won't be blindsided again."

"Nor will we be letting our guard down," Toni agreed, looking over at Peter, "Now that we know not to trust our own kids, we'll be keeping an eye on you. Both of you."

"Miss, you have a call," JARVIS said, interrupting them.

"We've talked about the Dinner Protocol, J," Toni sighed, "No calls during dinner."

"It's Director Fury," JARVIS said, and Toni looked over at Steve. "He claims it's urgent."

"You know he's just going to keep calling if we ignore him," Steve sighed, "Take the call."

"I know," Toni said, pulling out her phone, "Transfer the call, J, I'll take it privately."

"Transferred," JARVIS said, as Toni answered, while stepping out of the room.

It wasn't Peter's fault that he had super hearing and could still hear the call, despite the fact that his mom had left the room.

"What is it, Fury?" Toni asked, "I'm in the middle of having dinner with my kids. No, I'm sure it is something urgent, but this isn't a world ending event, last I checked. You have other people who can handle this. If it's something magical then call Strange! He's a reserve Avenger for a reason. I'm retired, and I'm staying retired. Nothing's going to change my mind."

"It's not polite to eavesdrop," Steve reminded him lightly, catching his gaze, and he knew that he'd been caught.

"I'm not doing it on purpose," Peter protested, and Steve gave him a look, "Fine, I was a little curious. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Darling," Toni told Peter, as she came back into the room. "Nothing I couldn't handle anyways. They don't need us. Fury's got this handled.

"I'm sure he does," Steve nodded, "Strange can be in London in literal seconds, with the Sanctum or his portals. And even without him, there are others Fury can call. He doesn't need us."

"No, he does not," Toni agreed, "No point dwelling on it. May as well finish our dinner in peace."

"Peas!" Morgan agreed, and Toni smiled at her, as Morgan took a piece of spaghetti and put it into her mouth, getting sauce all over her face. Between his younger three siblings, there was food all over them, and he was more than sure that there would definitely be baths in their near future.

"Finish eating," Steve prompted him, and Peter nodded, as he dug into his food.

He still wasn't sure of whether going to Europe was a good idea, and now that it seemed that something was amiss, he was even less certain. But he also knew that his parents were right. He had to keep living his life, even if he was terrified of what the future could hold.

Peter was certain very few of the other teen arriving at the airport for their trip had both their parents escort them, but well, he supposed he was an exception.

It was an entire article in the New York Inquisitor that Peter had graduated and would be going on the trip, albeit on page 5, with the question in there that he knew so many others were asking: what was he going to do now that he was done school?

And in all honesty, he didn't know.

He knew his Mom was hoping he'd join Harley at MIT, but that meant moving to Boston. Which meant leaving Queens.

And how could he leave the neighbourhood that he'd grown up in? That he'd watched over? It was where his Aunt and Uncle had lived in.

His family was in New York. His brother and sisters. How could he leave this all behind?

"You're going to have a lot of fun on this trip," his mother said, a lot more confident than he felt. "I remember my first trip to Europe with my friends. Well, I guess technically it was a business trip. And my friends were Pepper as my assistant, and Happy as my bodyguard. But it was a lot of fun. And I'm excited for you to go with your friends."

"Thanks, Mom," Peter said, looking at her earnestly. He knew how much they did for him, and there was not a day that he wasn't grateful towards his parents.

"Call us every day, okay?" Steve said, pressing a kiss to his head. He could see his classmates gathering near security check, and he knew they were probably waiting for him to join them so they could go on their trip. But he didn't want to rush this.

"I will," he promised, as he wrapped his arms around his mother's waist. Toni cupped his face gently as she kissed him on the head as well.

"Good," Toni smiled, "Before you go, I have something for you."

"You do?" Peter said, a bit confused, as she handed him a small box.

He opened it up and saw a pair of glasses.

"I don't need glasses anymore," Peter said in confusion, "Not since the bite, remember?"

"I know," Toni grinned. "These aren't any glasses. These are my glasses."

"You mean?" Peter breathed, as he picked them up and tried them on. The lens lit up a blue colour, and he gasped.

"Hello Peter," a female voice said, "I'm EDITH. Nice to meet you."

"You gave me another AI?" he asked, surprised.

"She's a bit more than just another AI," Toni grinned, "She has direct access to SI and any resources you may need. I know you packed the suit, just in case. And I wanted you to have a way of heroing, even if you couldn't suit up."

"Why EDITH?" Peter asked, a little confused.

"Even Distanced I'm The Hero," Toni grinned, "Just so you have a piece of me while you're all the way over there."

"Thanks, Mom," Peter said with a grin.

"Use them responsibly," Toni told him, "There's a lot of power in them. So make sure to keep them safe, okay?"

"I will," Peter said quickly. "I promise."

He could feel eyes on him, and he looked up to see Flash watching their interaction carefully. His mother followed his gaze and glowered at the kid.

"Toni," Steve said warningly, "You know you can't repulsor a kid right? Especially not here in a public place, where there's a lot of kids with cameras who could post it on the internet."

"So you're saying that it would be okay if there was no one watching?" Toni teased her husband. "I know. I won't hurt him. But you can't blame me for not liking the kid. You know how he's treated our son all these years!"

"I know," Steve said soothingly, as he stared over at Flash until the guy blinked and tried to look anywhere else but at them.

"You can't beat him up either," Peter said, with a small laugh. "With great power comes great responsibility."

"You always were a smart kid," Steve said, "Now we better get you over to your class, so you guys don't miss the trip."

Toni handed Peter his passport, as Steve dragged his suitcase over to the group.

"Mr and Mrs Stark-Rogers!" Mr Harrington said, a little startled, "Peter! Glad you could join us!"

"Take care of our kid," Toni said giving the man a knowing look, and he could swear his teacher all but blinked, stunned.

"I'll do my best," Mr Harrington gulped.

"Have fun, Peter," his mother said, as she pulled him in for a final hug.

"Stay safe," Steve told him.

His parents gave him a final look, before turning to walk away, and Peter swallowed.

"I think it's sweet," MJ said as she rolled her suitcase over to him, "That your mom and dad came to drop you off."

"They're just worried about me," Peter said with a sigh, "After everything that happened, they just want to make sure I'm going to be okay."

He hadn't been able to fully open up to Ned and MJ about everything that had happened. How could he when he wasn't even fully sure what had happened? He didn't like talking about it much, no matter how much his parents tried to get him to open up.

"Well, it's more than my dad did," MJ said, without really getting into it, and he glanced over at her curiously. She didn't talk about her home life often, and he'd never pried. Not when he knew what it was like to have a lot going on that they couldn't talk about.

She didn't even know he was Spider-Man.

"PETER!" Ned said, coming up to them and wrapping an arm around his neck. "Are you ready? We're gonna have so much fun!"

"I'm ready," he grinned.

Only, it wasn't fun. As they got on the plane, Peter had ended up next to Ned and through his friend's mechanisms, everything had turned all skewy. After a game of musical airline seats, Peter was now beside Mr Harrington, and Ned beside Betty.

And MJ, who was with Betty, now sat next to Brad Davis, a kid who'd transferred to their school half-way through their senior year.

He watched his plan crumble before his very eyes, as Brad pulled out a headphone splitter, to watch a movie with her.

"Hey, I see you have one of those adaptors too," Mr Harrington grinned, "How about we watch a movie?"

He didn't think this trip could get any worse.

A/N: And I'm back to do Homecoming! And what a ride it's going to be.

I know Brad Davis shouldn't exist in this verse, since there was no blip, but I decided to keep him anyways to add extra angst to Peter.