Fully Realized Avenger

Parker was overjoyed to see his best friend at his house. While it had only been a week since he last saw him, it felt like ages.

The two youths hugged at once with warmed and relieved smiles.

'Man Ned, it's so good to see you again; how is everyone?' Peter asked while Ned shrugged.

'Oh, you know, the same old usual stuff. Paparazzi is hounding the school gate to get an interview with you. Mr. Morita nearly filed restraining orders on all of them. School still gossiping how you are some rogue bad guy, the usual,' Ned explained in the most casual, carefree way possible, which made Parker chuckle a bit.

'So Ned, how's M.J. doing?' Parker asked, which caused Ned's face to fall into a frown.

'Oh...she's...doing fine,' Ned tried to say casually to him, but Parker could tell from his friend's voice that he was hiding something. Ever since the court ruling, he and M.J. could barely talk to each other before the drone security was set up around it. He couldn't even meet her at school, due to being too dangerous if his enemies were to attack it.

Peter then remembers seeing Michelle on the school news broadcast, interviewing everyone and asking him to return home.

'If only it were that simple...' Parker thought before looking back at Ned.

'However, people are questioning if you are still together, have broken up, or have a long-distance relationship...I mean, did you break up with her, Peter?' Ned asked. Peter sighed as he recalled his conversations with Michael shortly after his identity was exposed.

He remembered how panicked he was in a near fetal position while his girlfriend tried to comfort him, which was right after he swung out of the streets to protect her despite her protest... he never felt so pitiful in front of her.

He remembered wanting to break up with her so the bad guys wouldn't harm her on to brush everyone his claims:

'I'm too dangerous to be around you,' Parker said

'I'm used to being in danger around you,' Michael

'I can't always be there for you.'

'Then make time then.'

'I can die, Jones!

'Everyone dies; it's what you do before that time happens and not when that happens that matters.'

She never once budged. Stubbornness to a fault to all his frustration with her, and Yet...it was one of those traits that made him fall for her.

So, they tried to make it work; Peter would occasionally keep in contact with her and meet her in school on the days he could attend despite his lousy rep. But then he got a call that Mac Gargan had a massive armed dealer crime ring expanded across the country, and well... one thing led to another.

'...To be honest, Ned... I am surprised that M.J. still wants to be with me now.' Peter shrugged while Ned grumbled at his friend's gloomy stat.

'Look, Peter, M.J. still wants to be with you, so be with her. Besides, it's not that she would take what Jameson said at-uh wait what I mean-' Ned immediately regretted when he saw Parker's saddened reaction upon reminding him of J. Jonah's interview that utter roast of his best friend.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to...' Ned tried apologizing, but Parker shrugged it off.

'Dude, it's fine. I am over it,' Parker lied, but at this point, he did not need his friend to worry about him, too. His Aunt, Happy, and Ms. Pots were enough.

So he decided to change to a more positive subject.

'So um, I was...wondering if you want a tour of my workshop,' Peter offered, which caused Ned's eyes to widen in wonder.

'You have a... workshop? A superhero workshop!?

A few minutes later, Peter and Ned were on the other side of the teen's room with an enclosed space. Parker then gave off a voice command.

'Karen, open the workshop, please,' Peter ordered as a blue light blinked from the ceiling.

'As you command Peter, ' the A. I responded as the work desk, digital printer, rows of cases containing devices flipped from the back walls, and suit displays rose from the hidden floor panels.

Ned had his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw. Seeing him and Pete hacking and working with his stark suit was one thing. But it was entirely another thing to be in a place that could be built from scratch.

His extensive and round work desk was at the workshop's center. It was hooked with three Laptops on the left side and hologram projectors on the right with a sizeable laid-back chair. The walls had hundreds of web gadgets and other weapons, from bombs, grenades, electric tasers, eye lenses, and even arc reactors.

But what stood out the most was the suits, which included five. Spider-Man's first homemade suit was just a hoodie and goggles. The highly improved stark suit, which was now fully restored from being destroyed in London, the Iron Spider suit composed of nanites which Parker used when he faced off against Thanos, the stealth suit or the embarrassing named night monkey outfit that Shield gave on his trip to Europe and the red and black custom one that Pete created himself and wore when taking on Mysterio.

It was like something straight out of a comic book—a superhero secret lair compacted within a lodge apartment.

'This is...SO COOL!' Ned proclaimed excitedly as he looked around all the suits and gadgets. Parker just chuckled as he walked into the workspace.

'I know. I designed the place so I wouldn't have to go back and forth to the Avenger's compound to access my tech. Parker boasted as he swirled around in his chair.

'All this is stuff that I made from Mr. Stark's armory, Shield's high tech, and Thanos's invasion at Wakanda, ' Peter explained coolly while Ned looked at the highly advanced tech.

'So you are still like a dumpster diver, only you don't use garbage,' Ned committed.

That statement took advantage of Parker. After all, how else could he make tech or suits when he first started? It's not like he has billions of dollars like most other heroes. Still, it is nice to be supplied with actual resources.

As he looks over Parker's gadgets, he comes across a pair of glasses.

'Wait, aren't these the Glasses that Tony gave you? The one that was Installed with E.I.D.I.T.H.?' Ned asked as Parker looked up.

'They are, but only with a wireless connection to her; remembered what was said in the court hearing; I can only access that with Fury or Ross's permission,' the teen answered before he noticed Ned offered the glasses to him.

Much to Parker's confusion.

'You should wear them more often; I think you look good with glasses,' Ned chirped, but Peter gently pushed them back. Jameson's words echo back at him about how he failed Tony SStark.

'Maybe...Later,' The wearily teen said while Ned looked disappointed but put the glasses away.

The heavy-set teen then walked over to the hologram projector. 'So this is the place you commute with the Avengers, right? Parker then turns his head back to the projector.

'Sort of. We often use it to have a board meeting, but instead of an actual board meeting, we usually talk about stopping or hunting down criminals, up-to-date reports on how everyone is doing—that sort of thing.

'Right, ever since the desolation and the blip, I've heard on the news that tons of crime syndicates began rising in power due to a lack of Law enforcement and governments trying to keep themselves from falling apart. Sort of like you stopping the Manfredi mob back in Queens.' Ned nodded in understanding.

Parker then stayed quiet at Ned's statement as he leaned back into his chair.

'They were only supplying funds for an even larger operation.'

'Wait, what?' Ned asked in confusion before Parker pulled up a hologram projection of multiple crime rings and terrorist investigations spanning the world map.

'Not since the Chitauri invasion has so much alien tech invaded Earth in the past Ten years, and since it is from Thanos's main fleet, it's even more advanced than the first invasion from New York. Which means that a lot more people were going to scavenge them.'

'You mean like Toomes?' Ned asks in shock, as he now realizes the sure scale of the operations that Parker was trying to tell him.

'Yep, but unlike Adrian, who just wanted to keep a low profile...some didn't, and when he went to jail, other arm dealers began taking his place by selling off an alien tech. Scorpion is just one of many.' Peter explains using the hologram map to show various crime reports and sittings. He was listing off Gangs, terrorists, and even some rogue organizations like Hydra and A.I.M.

'Dude...' Ned gasped as he saw all the operations his friend Parker had taken on or was still finishing. Upon looking at it all, the teen then came to another realization.

'Peter...you are an Avenger, ' Ned said, causing Parker to look at him with confusion as if his buddy hit his head or if all the information was too much for him to handle and short-circuited his brain.

'Uh, Ned, I have been an Avenger for over a year. What are you even talking about?

'No, I mean you are an Avenger now. Because, well, Pete, no offense, but you were sort of like Iron Man's sidekick, given that he gave you the suit and everything,' Ned said honestly, which caused Parker to at him looked with disgust and slight betrayal.

I'm not his sidekick!' Parker whined, but Leeds looked and remained unconvinced.

'No, you were, but now you are a complete-time superhero with your lair and suits everything in a fancy apartment. You're like living every kid's fantasy!

Parker was about to retort, but he considered Ned's words and looked around his place... he was living his dream. Since Mr. Stark saved him all those years ago, back at the Stark Expo, he always wished he could be an Avenger, and when Mr. Stark brought him to Germany and had him fight Captain America, he thought he was invincible.

...My god, was he so stupid. If a cold-blooded criminal dropping a building on him and almost getting murdered in their fight didn't show how downright terrifying being a superhero was. A battle against a mad reality-manipulating alien warlord and flat-out feeling himself snap out from existence ingrained it into his very essence, with Tony's death further empathizing it.

Being an Avenger is not just about being a superhero...it is about being a soldier and willing to die not just for your country but the world and even the universe as a whole, and in the end when you try to compare that cosmic stuff to terrorist and criminals like Hydra, A.I.M. and other common thugs. He was still handling the little stuff on the grand scale of things.

'If you say so, Ned, ' Parker said with a shrug. Ned looked at Parker out with concern when he saw his lack of response.

'Oh come on, man, you got to have some form of satisfaction from being an Avenger and working alongside superheroes.'

Parker perked and smiled as he remembered his time with the other heroes.

'That I did...you know Ned, the Avengers, I never really got to know each other aside from Mr. Stark for a long while. But as I began to hang out with them more and got to know them more...they felt like I... was part of a family.' Peter chuckled as he remembered how Rhodes talked about his relationship with Tony and how Bucky spoke about his time with Steve and their missions in World War 2. He was experimenting with Bruce Banner, perhaps even more intelligent than Mr. Stark, and training with Sam as they soured through the air.

But...he could never get close to any of them. If only because he didn't want to lose another mentor...or even be betrayed by one at that.

'Really?' Ned said gently with melancholy, which caused a Parker to freak at what Ned might think from what he just said.

'Hey, that doesn't mean they replace you or anything, Ned, if that's what you're thinking!'

'What you thought I have thought that come on, man, you know me better than that,' Ned joked at his friend, which caused Parker to sigh in relief before both started to laugh at each other.

'Still, you are viewing them as family; that's deep, Pete; it makes me think you may not need to come to school anymore,' Ned mused while Parker shook his head.

'I'm being treated as a part-time Avenger until I graduate from high school this spring,' Parker remarked as he laid back in his seat while wrapping his arms around his head.

'And since I'm already 17, I will soon be passed on as a full-on adult. No longer a kid.'

'Which will also go for all of us,' Ned added as Parker nodded in agreement.'

'So, are you...still going to school tomorrow to meet with the rest of us to catch up?' Ned asked Parker, who remained silent before groaning at the thought.

The experience he went through in school after his identity had been revealed... was not pleasant, but since M.J. and Ned were there, he could at least try for them.

'Sure. See you tomorrow.