Peter trudged into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes as he headed straight to the fridge for some chocolate milk.

He was not expecting to run into Stark, half-dressed, tie draped around his neck, balancing a tablet in one hand and a half-eaten piece of toast in the other.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm on my way out, but Pepper dropped off some of those croissant sandwiches you like from the one place." Stark took a rushed sip of too-hot coffee, wincing. "And you can call out for whatever you want for dinner."

Peter grabbed a banana and leaned against the counter, silently watching Stark's flurry of activity. He didn't remember the man mentioning he'd be gone all day.

Stark set his unfinished toast down and started flipping through whatever was on his tablet.

Peter arched an eyebrow. "Forget you had somewhere to be?"

"Pepper's flying out a little earlier than expected for her trip to Japan." He looked around briefly before spotting his blazer draped over the back of a chair. He grabbed it, shrugging it on hurriedly. "So a few extra things landed on my plate."

Peter peeled his banana slowly, watching Stark dart around the kitchen, probably looking for the meeting notes stacked on the seat next to Peter.

He'd find it eventually.

Peter couldn't quite put his finger on what he was feeling. Tired, certainly. But also…mad? Was he mad? He didn't know what he could be mad at Stark about. He hadn't even seen the man, except in passing, in three days.

Stark grabbed his coffee cup and finally stopped long enough to glance at Peter. "So—how was orientation?"

Peter gave a half-shrug, taking a bite of his banana. "It was okay."

He raised an eyebrow. "Just okay? Happy said you talked his ear off about it all."

Peter internally bristled. "I got to look around. Find some classes."

"Good, good. Hey, I missed seeing you in the kitchen last night," he added casually as he took a sip of coffee. "Did you go to bed early?"

Peter froze for half a second but quickly masked it with a sip of his drink. "Yeah," he lied.

Mr. Stark sighed, glancing at his watch. "Listen, sorry I've been MIA the past couple days. With Pepper gone, there's going to be a bit of extra slack to pull. More than a bit."

"It's fine," Peter said automatically.

"Alright, before I run out the door, what's the plan for today? You gonna head down to the lab?"

Peter hesitated for a second, then shrugged. "I actually have a thing. A club meeting."

Tony froze mid-sip, and for a split second, he almost felt bad for springing it on him like this.

"I don't think Happy's available to—"

"I'm just going to walk over. It's only like four blocks away."

Stark glanced at the time and appeared to make a quick decision under duress. "You'll wear the watch, check in with FRIDAY, and be back when you tell her you'll be back, right?" His voice was careful, measured.

Peter let out a small sigh of exasperation, but he nodded. "Yes. I will be wearing the surveillance and checking in with the AI overlord."

"Great. Just Um…" Stark patted his pockets absently, "…take a card out of my wallet, wherever that is. FRIDAY can help you find it. And…be careful."

"Okay. Thanks." Peter waved half-heartedly, watching as he left.

He sat at the counter for a long time, picking at the peel of his banana. He should've told Stark he was worried about Harley.


The Midtown Tech Robotics Club was meeting at a coffee shop in East Midtown. Just a casual, impromptu get-together that Peter suspected was more out of curiosity over the new kid with the high math score than anything else.

It wasn't far. Especially for Peter, but it was a few blocks farther than he'd admitted to Stark. Even better, it was a little outside the range of city that Stark had so-far taken him to see.

It felt so good to be out. Even with the watch, he felt gratefully off-leash and free for once. A thrill of excitement buzzed though his body. He could get used to this.

Peter arrived at Brewed Awakening to find Ned already there, hunched over his phone, furiously scrolling through a document while sipping a boba tea. Across from him sat a girl with sharp, dark eyes trained on Peter from under a soft pink hijab. She watched him with such calculating intensity he wondered if all the girls at Midtown Tech were intimidating. MJ certainly was.

Ned spotted him and instantly grinned, his smile spreading to Peter. "Hey, you made it!"

The girl nodded a greeting, extending her hand to shake Peter's. "Zoha Souliotis, programming and hardware integration. Welcome to the team."

Ned rolled his eyes. "Zoha is also our club president. But if we're introducing ourselves based on skills—hi, I'm Ned, programming and software extraordinaire."

A petite blond girl with a mischievous smirk pulled up a seat, followed by a rather bored-looking Flash. The girl shook Peter's hand. "Oh, this is fun. I'm Betty Brant, marketing and fundraising guru."

"Betty makes us memorize sponsorship pitches like we're on Shark Tank." Ned added. "And she always makes sure we have a nice slot on the school news channel whenever there's a competition."

"She earns her keep." Flash said, refusing to look directly at Peter. "And she's already got the non-engineering tasks covered, so if you don't have anything to bring to the table—"

"Then he'll just have to learn." Zoha cut in. "How about we show Peter what we worked on last year? He can let us know what he thinks."

This was definitely a test. But Peter didn't mind. He was starting to realize he actually liked tests. "Yeah. I'd love to see what you all have built."

Zoha pulled up some images on her phone and Peter eagerly leaned in, eyes scanning the pictures with a mix of curiosity and excitement. The first image showed a sleek, compact robot with a mechanical claw gripping a plastic block.

"This was our entry for the FIRST Tech Challenge last year," Zoha explained, watching Peter's reaction carefully. "We built it for the stacking challenge—had to pick up and place weighted blocks in different zones for points."

Peter studied the design closely, immediately noticing the articulated claw mechanism. "Did you guys use a servo-driven grip or is that a rack-and-pinion system?" he asked, tilting the phone for a better look.

Zoha's eyes lit up. "Servo-driven, actually. We tried rack-and-pinion at first, but it wasn't fast enough for the timed rounds."

Peter nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, good call. Did the servo setup give you better precision?"

"It did, especially since we programmed a PID control loop for smoother movement." Zoha said.

Betty rolled her eyes. "Okay, we get it, Peter's a nerd just like the rest of you. Let's just make it official and put him on the team already."

Flash glared. "He can talk bots, but can he build bots?"

Zoha shrugged. "I like talking about robots. Ned is the only one on the team who geeks out with me. Even if all Peter does is become the hype-man who geeks out with us, I'd be happy to have him on the team."

Betty stood up. "If we're going to talk about robots all morning, I'm going to need to get my coffee first. What can I get the rest of you?"

Zoha wrote down her complex order, Ned requested another boba tea, and Flash grumbled that he'd go get his own.

"What about you, Peter? Want a coffee?" Betty asked.

"Nah. I'll be fine."

"Strapped for cash, newbie?" Flash asked bitingly.

Peter ignored that. He supposed he was no longer Repeat. And, as nicknames went, "newbie" wasn't so bad.

"I'm treating." Betty offered with a smile. "It's my turn."

"Thanks, but I can't drink caffeine. Tea and decaf probably have too much of it, too."

Zoha stared. "You function without caffeine?"

Betty gave him a pitying look. "Really? That's honestly tragic."

Even Ned frowned at him. "You should've said something, man. We could've met up somewhere else."

"No, no. It's fine." Peter tried to reassure them, but both the girls and Ned were having none of that. In the end they talked him into getting a smoothie.

When the orders were ready, they made Flash get up to get everything, pointing out that all he was doing was sitting there sulking anyway. And it was true, he'd been silently pouting the entire time. Peter really didn't understand that guy's problem. Was he always in a bad mood, or did Peter's presence bring out the worst in him?

Flash soon returned and deposited the cups on the table with a sarcastic smirk. "I live to serve."

"Yeah, right. I'm surprised you got up at all." Betty rolled her eyes.

The smoothie, something called "chunky monkey," was pretty good. It tasted like banana, chocolate, and peanut butter. After a few sips Peter felt a jolt of energy and wondered if maybe his blood sugar had been getting low.

"So, what do you need me to work on? Mechanical design? CAD?" he asked, with renewed focus.

Flash shot daggers at him from over his own drink and Peter wondered what he had managed to do wrong, now.

But Zoha looked pleased. "That would be great! Our main mechanical designer graduated last year." She glanced excitedly at Flash. "You and Flash could work together. He does a lot of the CAD work so far, but we do need someone who can take on mechanical design tasks and actually build the bot."

Of course Flash was already working on that. Peter could practically feel the hate oozing off the guy. He sipped his smoothie and felt his heart race. This was going to be a long, unpleasant year if Flash couldn't get over himself and just get along.

The conversation picked back up as Betty and Zoha started planning out the team's calendar for the year.

"We'll definitely do First Tech Challenge again, but what about VEX?"

"That one's a bit more technical, with lots of autonomous coding, but it might be a fun challenge."

Peter nodded along and took another sip. The baristas were clanging away in the kitchen and the sound of it was starting to grate on his nerves. When had they gotten so loud?

His fingers tapped an uneven rhythm against the tabletop, his leg bouncing under his chair. He blinked, squinting slightly. The lights overhead seemed brighter than before, halos of white fuzzing at the edges of his vision.

Oh. Oh, crap.

Peter looked down at his smoothie. "This has caffeine."

Betty frowned, concern flashing across her face. "No, I checked before I ordered! I promise I did!"

"None of the smoothies here have caffeine." Zoha's sharp eyes affixed on Flash. "Unless someone asks to add a shot of energizer supplement. That has caffeine."

Ned turned slowly towards Flash, his entire body stiff with realization. "You didn't."

Flash's mouth twitched into a barely suppressed smirk.

Ned let out a sharp breath and glared at him. "What an ass."

Peter stood up from his seat, stumbling a little. He felt strangely focused and light-headed at the same time.

"I should go." His voice came out too clipped, his own words rushing ahead of his brain.

Ned was up instantly. "I'll go with you."

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine. I didn't drink that much."

"Yeah, no. I'm coming with you whether you want me to or not. Sorry, dude." Ned packed up quickly, shooting another glare at Flash, who was now giggling.

They left the café and Peter took a few relieved steps. The city was loud, and he was sure to have a pounding headache later, but it felt a little better to be out and moving around.

"Are you okay?" Ned hovered a bit to the side, looking worried.

Peter nodded tensely, his head throbbed. "I probably just need to walk it off."

"Are you sure? Because you look like you might pass out."

A little pulse of light at his wrist caught his attention and then his phone immediately vibrated with an incoming text.

FRIDAY: Peter, your watch indicates you are stationary, yet your resting heart rate has dramatically increased.

Are you in need of assistance?

Peter ground his teeth in annoyance. You've got to be kidding me.

"NO," he texted back quickly.

Ned leaned closer to look at his watch, his face a mix of curiosity and growing concern. "Is that a medical monitor?"

"No." Peter shoved the phone back into his pocket. He had no idea Stark was spying on his vitals, of all things. What a control freak.

Ned didn't look convinced.

"I can walk you home, or we can just wander around," he offered. "There's a library a couple blocks up."

Peter hesitated. A library? He hadn't been to one since—well, ever, as far as he knew. He glanced at Ned, trying to assess whether the guy actually wanted to hang out or was just being polite.

Ned looked nothing but sincere. In fact, Ned Leeds might have been the most sincere-looking person Peter had ever met.

A small smile tugged at Peter's lips. "A library sounds great."

As they walked, the August sun combined with the caffeine made Peter feel faintly ill, but he could tell the effect was quickly fading. By the time they reached the library, Peter's pulse had steadied and the sensory overload had eased up. His head throbbed faintly, and he still felt anxious, but he was better.

Inside, the air was cool and still, and the soft scent of old books settled around them like a comforting blanket. Peter hadn't realized how much he needed the quiet until they stepped inside. It was like walking into another world— one where the city's noise and chaos was muffled, where everything moved at a slower, more deliberate pace.

"You good?" Ned asked, glancing at him as they wandered between the shelves.

Peter nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. I think I just needed to get out of there. I already feel loads better."

"Good." Ned glanced nervously at him. "Please don't quit the club on Flash's account."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Peter reassured. It felt good to have people want him around. He wasn't going to let Flash get in the way of that.

They eventually made their way to the library's graphic novel section. Ned gestured grandly to the rows of colorful spines. "Behold, the holy land."

Peter huffed a laugh, scanning the shelves. "I take it you've spent a lot of time here."

"Dude, you don't even know." Ned grinned and immediately started pulling books down, stacking them in his arms. "Oh! And they have a pretty sweet comic collection, too." He indicated a long row of plastic magazine organizers on the bottom shelves, each filled to the brim with comics.

Peter knelt down, pulling out a bin to get a better look. He felt a satisfied, warm feeling as his fingers ghosted over the vibrant covers. They felt so familiar.

"I think I remember some of these..."

Ned's brow's shot up. "Really? Anything stand out?"

Peter frowned, flipping through the titles. "I don't know." His fingers paused on an old issue of Iron Man and he rolled his eyes. "Some of them I might just recognize because they're everywhere."

Ned nodded thoughtfully. "So, the amnesia...," he started, and then hesitated. "Was it, like...from an injury, or something?"

Peter tensed. "Uh…yeah."

"Oh." Ned winced. "Sorry."

Peter shrugged, forcing his shoulders to relax. "It's fine. It's not like I remember it."

Ned studied him for a second before his face suddenly lit up with a grin. "So wait—you're starting everything fresh? Like, you have no idea what happens in these?" He pointed to the shelves.

Peter nodded and Ned got a glassy-eyed look of awe.

"Dude. That's so cool. If I could experience all this for the first time again…" He shook his head wistfully.

Peter rolled his eyes with a grin. "Shut up."

Ned ignored him. "And I get to be the one to introduce you to all this. It's a literal honor. I won't let you down. Your fandom virginity is safe in my hands."

"Gross." Peter smirked. "Where should we start?"

Ned appeared to give it serious thought, and then handed him: Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith. He scanned the graphic novels and pulled Watchmen. Then the pile in Peter's arms started to grow as Ned practically brimmed with excitement.

Eventually, they plopped down in a quiet corner of the library.

At first, they read in silence, the world around them fading into the soft turning of pages. Every now and then, though, Ned would make a small, incredulous noise and launch into a passionate explanation about why a particular storyline was either brilliant or blasphemous.

And Peter found himself surprisingly invested.

"What is the Speed Force?" Peter asked at one point, bewildered.

"Oh, dude, buckle up." Ned cracked his knuckles. "The Speed Force is only the most complicated, mind-bending, space-time-altering concept in all of comics."

Later—

"So, wait. This guy just dresses like a bat and beats up criminals?" Peter frowned at The Long Halloween. "That's the whole thing?"

Ned scoffed. "Okay, first of all, Batman is a detective. Second, it's thematically rich."

Peter hummed thoughtfully. "Sounds like a guy with a lot of unresolved trauma."

His watch buzzed and flashed a small light, pulling his attention away from whatever argument Ned was passionately preparing next. A small message popped up.

Overdue for check-in.

And then: Estimated return time exceeded by 15 minutes.

Peter scowled. Seriously?

He sighed, standing up and stretching. "I should head back."

"Your parents wondering where you are?" Ned asked, commiseratingly.

"Something like that."

Peter helped him gather up their stacks to put back on the reshelving cart and they promised to meet up again before the start of school next week. All in all, it was a really fun day. But he was hungry, and his head still ached from the caffeine, so he didn't mind heading back to the tower.

But one thing was certain, Peter thought to himself. The first thing I'm doing when I get back?

Taking this damn watch apart to see how it ticks.